By Andy Walter

LEWES — If ever there was a time to panic, this might have been it.
Three innings into its game at Salesianum a couple weeks ago, Cape Henlopen High’s baseball team was down by five runs.

“It felt like one of those days,” said Vikings’ coach Ben Evick. “Like everything we put in play was right to someone. Nothing was going our way.”

But, four innings later, Cape Henlopen left Wilmington with a 9-8 victory.

“Our guys, to their credit, backs against the wall, they just keep chipping away, keep fighting, keep battling,” said Evick.

Evick said that’s just an example of the mindset that has the top-seeded Vikings (19-2) riding an 18-game winning streak into Saturday’s DIAA state semifinals at Frawley Stadium.

Second-seeded Conrad (17-3) faces No. 3 Appoquinimink (18-2) at 5 p.m. with Cape Henlopen then taking on No. 5 St. Mark’s (15-5) at about 8 p.m.

With the Vikings in the state semifinals for the fourth time since 2015, Evick said there’s a confidence the program carries with it from year to year. Cape Henlopen has advanced to the state title game twice.

“The approach with our program was to build a culture because I think that’s what it takes,” he said. “You’re going to have talent pools where you get groups in that are good. That will fluctuate.

“But you want to build a culture around the program that sets a tone and an example. That’s what we’ve been working on. We feel like we’re established a culture that kids buy into, they want to be a part of.”

As impressive as the Vikings’ winning streak has been, Evick said his players understand that they’re not unbeatable.

They started the season by losing two of their first three games. Cape Henlopen’s last setback was a 6-3 setback to Arbishop Spalding, Md. on April 2.

The Vikings’ one in-state loss was to Dover, 11-6, on March 29.

Cape Henlopen has won seven one-run games since then. That includes an 11-10 victory over Sussex Tech in Tuesday’s state quarterfinals.

That contest started with the Ravens scoring three runs in the top of the first and included five lead changes.

“It’s become, ‘Just stick to our approach and our brand of baseball,’” said Evick, who was named the state Coach of the Year. “‘Don’t worry about outcomes as you play the game. Just continue to play.’ They’ve not once dwelled upon any win streaks at all.”

There’s plenty of potential distractions this time of year for every team still playing.

All four squads in the semifinals had to deal with the games being pushed back two days because of rain on Thursday. The seniors are already out of school.
Cape Henlopen, of course, has the longest drive to get to Frawley Stadium. The Vikings have nine seniors on their roster.

“Our guys have been locked in on this thing,” said Evick. “Pretty much every one of these guys was actually at our state championship in 2018. They’ve been bought into our program and our approach and everything that we stand for for years now. They have been committed.

“We started our weight room in the fall — we lifted all fall and all winter and those guys didn’t miss. They’ve got their goals that they set and their eye on the prize. They know what it’s taken and they’ve stuck with it.”

Notes

Appoquinimink is trying to reach the state finals for the third straight season and for the fifth time since 2011. ... St. Mark’s has been in the state championship game 20 times. ... There are a total of 12 first or second-team All-Staters playing on semifinal teams. ... Conrad’s Tyler Pirrung has been named Gatorade Delaware Baseball Player of the Year. The senior right-handed pitcher, third baseman and outfielder had batted .542 with four home runs, 30 RBI and 22 runs scored. He also compiled a .642 on-base percentage and did not allow a run in five games and seven innings pitched through 20 games.

Sports editor Andy Walter can be reached at 741-8227 or walter@iniusa.org.
Follow on Twitter at @DSNSports.