Dating back a number of seasons, the Yorktown Patriots have long winning streaks working against its two biggest Arlington County high-school baseball rivals.
Entering this spring’s action, Yorktown has defeated the Wakefield Warriors 25 straight times dating back to the 2007 campaign. Wakefield last defeated Yorktown when it swept three games from the Patriots in 2006.
Yorktown has defeated the Washington-Liberty Generals 14 straight times. The Generals last topped Yorktown early in the 2017 season.
This spring, Yorktown is scheduled to play Wakefield and Washington-Liberty twice each in Liberty District regular-season contests. Yorktown plays W-L on April 22 and May 12 and faces Wakefield on April 10 and 24.
Yorktown returns some key players from last season’s Liberty District tournament championship team that finished with a 16-6 record: Jack Rubin, Owen Woodward, Aidan McCracken, Coby Casalengo, J.D. Rizzo, Patrick Mellett and top pitcher Grayson McCarthy.
Yorktown is scheduled to begin its season Monday, March 17 at home at 6 p.m. against the Hayfield Hawks in a non-district game. Washington-Liberty (7-15 last season) opens its season Tuesday, March 18 on the road in Vienna at 6:30 p.m. against the perennial region and state contender Madison Warhawks.
Top returners for W-L are Sean Guffey, George Thompson, Jack Keane, Alex Frymoyer, Robert Fitzpatrick, Sam Jackman, Henry Gerber, Alex Goodell and Alex Bartl.
The Generals want to score more runs this season, having lost eight games by one run and two more by two runs last season.
Wakefield finished 7-14 in 2024, and return a number of players from that squad that has second-year head coach Adam Balutis optimistic. There are 11 seniors on the team.
“I think we are ready. This could be our time,” Balutis told ARLnow. “We have more pitching depth.”
Wakefield opens play Saturday, March 22 at 6:30 p.m. at home against St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes.
Top returners for Wakefield are Mason Bull, Lucas Mejia, Beau Branch, Beckett Hampton, Cort Bringham. Adam Barrington, Chas Daub, Ben Crowe, Elliott Sagana, Ryan Beck, Kendrick Tribe, James Mazel and Matthew Hilscher.
NOTE: Last year, Yorktown also defeated Arlington’s Bishop O’Connell Knights of the private-school ranks in a regular-season game. So the Patriots were 5-0 against Arlington rivals. Yorktown also faces O’Connell again this spring, so the Patriots again have the chance to go 5-0 against county rivals.
