EAST ZONE QUALIFIERS
- Hagerstown, MD-

The 2019 East Zone Championship game went to an if necessary match-up, and coming out on top was Hagerstown, Maryland, by a final score of 7-3. Hagerstown clinches its third trip this decade to the DSGPLWS and sixth since the turn of the century.
To open the tournament, Hagerstown upended another usual East Zone favorite, Chesterfield County, Virginia, 8-5. A 15-3 win over Manchester, New Hampshire followed, the with the East Zone Championship on the line, Hagerstown fell to Chesterfield, 5-4, forcing an if necessary championship game.
In the 7-3 championship game, Hagerstown and Chesterfield met for the third time in the tournament. Chesterfield led early in the final game, 3-0, through three innings. In the fourth inning, Hagerstown added two runs and the another run in the fifth to tie the game 3-3.
In the bottom of the sixth, still tied 3-3, Hagerstown brought eight up to the plate and scored four runs to take a 7-3 lead. Jake McCallister got his lone hit of the game, a two-RBI triple to make the score 5-3. Jacob Hill followed McCallister with his only hit of the game as well, an RBI single to make it 6-3. The score turned to 7-3 when Hagerstown scored on an error by Chesterfield.
On the mound, Brayden Barr allowed three runs (one earned) on four hits. Also, Barr stuck out four over his four and two-thirds frames and walked a total of four.
For the tournament, Hagerstown outscored its opposition by a count of 34-17. Behind the bats of Dylan Shoemaker (.545 BA/16 PA) and Carter Conroy (.462 BA/15 PA) the offense averaged nearly nine runs per game.
On the mound, Barr and McCallister led the charge, throwing a combined 13.1 innings, en route to a final team ERA of 3.04 for the tournament.
Hagerstown prepares to return to Washington for the second time in three years. 2019 will mark the 14th appearance in the PLWS for the East Zone Champions. Hagerstown qualified for the first PLWS in 1952. In 1995, Hagerstown was the runner-up, falling to Bayamon, Puerto Rico 11-2. In 2000 and 2015, Hagerstown came within one game of the championship, losing to West Covina, California in 2000 and San Bernardino in 2015.
The state of Maryland has never hoisted the DSGPLWS championship. Hagerstown will look to win its first championship, as well as the states’. The East Zone Champions take the field to kick-off the 2019 DSGPLWS at 5:30 p.m ET-US in Game #1 against Caribbean Zone Champion, Arecibo, Puerto Rico.