For the fourth time since an annual all-Arlington rivalry baseball game was re-established in 2019, the Yorktown Patriots defeated the Bishop O’Connell Knights.
The most recent win was by a 7-4 score at O’Connell on Wednesday (March 19) and was the Patriots’ second straight over the Knights.
O’Connell won in 2023, with Yorktown finishing on top in 2019 and 2022. The high-school teams did not play because of the pandemic in 2020 and 2021.
All of the games between the two schools — located about a mile apart — have been close. O’Connell’s loss this season was its first of the 2025 campaign, as the Knights won their first five games. Yorktown improved to 2-0 with the win.
“We pitched well and had a lot of guys come through with some big clutch hits,” said Yorktown senior first baseman and cleanup batter Jack Rubin, who will play in college at Fordham University. “This is a nice win for us.”
Rubin did not have any of Yorktwon’s eight hits because he walked in all four of his at-bats, seeing just three strikes of the 19 pitches he faced.
“That’s a first for me,” Rubin told ARLnow about walking that many times in a game at any level.
Jack Ingram (double, sacrifice bunt) and No. 9 hitter Anthony Rucker (two bunts, one RBI) had two hits each for Yorktown. Owen Woodward doubled and had an RBI, leadoff batter Aidan McCracken and catcher Leo Holt had RBI singles, and Cooper Lawson singled.
Right-hander Grayson McCarthy started and pitched four innings for Yorktown to get the win. He allowed four hits, one earned run, walked one and struck out four.
Cam Gonzalez, a lefty, worked the final three frames to earn the save, allowing four hits, two earned runs with a walk and five strikeouts.
He fanned the final four batters he faced, helped by fading light as the game ended at dusk. O’Connell’s field is not lighted.
The top hitters for O’Connell were Jack Woda (double, RBI) and Walker McElwain with two each. Truman Leckey had an RBI double, James Robinson an RBI single and Chaz Walker, Kamari Chisolm and Chris Connolly all singled. Aidan Kim had an RBI.
Yorktown scored two runs in the top of the first inning and led the entire game. The Patriots added three runs in the fourth and scored single times in the sixth and seventh.
O’Connell made two errors and its pitchers combined to walk nine, have two balks and hit two batters. Yorktown made one error.
Yorktown opened its season with a 7-6 walkoff victory in extra innings over the Hayfield Hawks the night before. Woodward walked with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth to end the game.
Rubin hit a two-run first-inning homer. Ingram added a solo homer, Woodward doubled and had two hits, McCracken doubled, and Holt had an RBI single and sacrifice bunt. Yorktown rallied from 5-2 and 6-4 deficits.
O’Connell nipped St. Stephen’s & St. Agnes, 2-1, John Paul the Great, 18-6, and Good Counsel, 8-7, in games prior to facing Yorktown.
