-  Parent company Stack Sports is retiring their LeagueLineup.com application on August 31, 2026 : all information herein is perpetuated at marylandsemiprobaseball.teampages.com 

Executive Director

KENNY JERKINS, Las Vegas, Nevada kennyjerkins@aol.com

Deputy Director
DAN CUNNINGHAM, Greencastle, Pennsylvania cunnidan@wcps.k12.md.us

SOMERSET COUNTY'S LAIRD FARMS STILL STATE'S FINEST

SECOND STATE CROWN FOR SECOND-SEASON SQUAD

HAGERSTOWN HANDS INDIAN HEAD SEMIFINAL SETBACK

GAMBRILLS - State Championship Game XXX Most Valuable Player center fielder T.J Morris's three hits were more than half of their five-hit attack as Laird Farms benefitted from a five-walk, five-run top of the first inning to top the Hagerstown Braves 8-5 in the 2026 Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball State Championship Game seen both by 62 spectators at Arundel High School in Gambrills in Anne Arundel County and by a live broadcast-watching audience on Saturday thanks to Executive Producer George Marinos's Fleaflicker Media production that can be replayed via http://facebook.com/george.marinos.5 - the Somerset Countians defended the state title that they took last year in 2025 in their inaugural campaign. Cole Swift walked and scored both in that first frame and again in the fourth as the Eastern Shore League Champions cavorted to a 7-0 cushion before Cam Bailey's two-run homer in the home half of the fourth. Bailey was the beneficiary of a walk to begin the sixth after which he scored to slice the deficit to 8-3. His solo shot to start the eighth brought the Braves back to 8-5. Cam came to the plate with two on and two out in the bottom of the ninth - this season's 2025 Best-of-Five South Penn League Championship Series' two-outs-with-the-bases-empty walkoff home run-hitter fanned to finish the State finale. Cory Fisher completed five innings for the win, Brandon Slayball slung two-and-a-third stanzas for the winners and Evan Nibblett finished to notch the five-out save.

   The South Penn League Champion Braves bounced the Charles-Saint Mary's League-leading Indian Head Indians 10-7 in their same-day Semifinal Game's preliminary play. The Washington Countians' winning righthander Abe Dull allocated six hits, two walks and three runs with only one of them earned over seven-and-a-third innings. Hagerstown had 10 hits in the contest including two each by Bailey, Evan Brown and Adam Mathias. Bailey, Mathias and Adam Haifley each drove in a pair. One of Bailey's hits was the first homer of the three that he hammered in his team's two-game day: the catcher caught all 18 innings. 

   The Braves got on the board in the bottom of the second in the Semifinal after Isaiah Dull reached base on a bunt that had been intended as a sacrifice, Curt Moore walked and Haifley singled - all three scored in the second. Mathias and Bailey both blasted their homers in the bottom of the eighth for the insurance runs that defined the winning difference. Dak Merritt had three hits in five at-bats for Indian Head. Brayden Langley went two-for-four with three runs batted in for the Indians. Both Clint Sanders and Brodhi Sanders brokered a multi-hit day for the Charles Countians. 

THIS YEAR'S HALL OF FAMERS HAVE BEEN CHOSEN

BRASHEARS AND LAIRD AND STEINERT ARE ADDED

THREE MORE MEMBERS MAKE TOTAL 60

   Mike Brashears, Brian Laird and Paul Steinert comprise the Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball Hall of Fame's Class of 2026. A versatile South Hagerstown High School athlete who was both an All-State football defensive back and the school's all-time leading basketball scorer while leading the 25-0 Owls to their 1975 State Championship before his concentrating upon baseball for four seasons for the University of Maryland Terrapins, Mike was 12-3 pitching for Johnny's in the Baltimore League in the Summer of '75. Brashears played eight subsequent seasons for the Hagerstown Braves in the Franklin County League, compiling a 61-10 record with 10 saves. Mike struck out 450 batters in 485 and 2/3 innings with a 1.84 Earned Run Average for Hagerstown. Brashears was a blistering 15-0 with three saves in 1977 and 14-1 with two saves in 1978. He served two season as the Braves' player-manager. Born and raised in Princess Anne in Somerset County on Maryland's Eastern Shore, Brian has left an indelible imprint on the Eastern Shore League for the entirety of the league's existence. He was a star outfielder and first baseman when the league's current iteration commenced in 1983 and he was still active after 44 seasons at the time of this induction. The league's 1984 Most Valuable Player in Peaky's first Championship season ranked upon the league's leaders consistently in batting average, in home runs and in runs batted in during 14 seasons with Peaky's before another nine years with the Tri-County Twins - he hit three homers in one game. Laird transitioned from Twins' player to Twins' coach during the early 21st Century but he remained both willing and able to swing a bat if needed. He had a hit in his most recent game with a plate appearance in 2018 - he's hit safely in four different decades of Eastern Shore League play. The Twins' 2023 Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball Manager of the Year managed his eponymous Laird Farms franchise to the 2025 Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball State Championship in their inaugural season and those 2026 Eastern Shore League Champions were awaiting the 2026 State Championships Final Four scheduled for the week after this induction. The Pittsburgh Pirates' 1981 fifth-round draft pick out of Baltimore County's Dundalk Community College, Paul was redrafted out of Florida International University in 1984 by the Seattle Mariners for whose organization he pitched professionally. The hard throwing six-foot-six-inch righthander dominated both in the Baltimore-Harford League and in the Maryland League upon his return to the Baltimore vicinity.  

A BETTER ANSWER - WITHOUT A QUESTION

SUPPORTED SEMI-PRO BASEBALL FOR 22 SEASONS

410-879-8600 or 1-800-346-2517

BEL AIR - A Better Answer provided the Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball Information Line as a courtesy from 1991 through 2012 inclusive, helping to create the statewide semi-pro baseball network that we enjoy today. A Better Answer provides 24/7 telemessaging services for the business, commercial, industrial and medical communities. Please consider A Better Answer if in need of such services and contact A Better Answer either at 410-879-8600 or at 1-800-346-2517 or via www.a-better-answer.com - why wait when there's A Better Answer? 

RIPKEN FOUNDATION / FEEDING AMERICA

HONOR CAL BY HELPING TO STRIKE OUT HUNGER

410-952-7920

ABERDEEN - Launched by the Cal Ripken, Sr. Foundation www.ripkenfoundation.org , the purpose of the Strike Out Hunger campaign is to raise funds that will provide food to people in need. Together with Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, Niagara Cares, Group1001 and the Kevin Harvick Foundation, the Ripken Foundation partnered with Feeding America, their 200 local food banks, 60,000 food pantries and meal programs across the country to help address the issue of food insecurity for underserved kids and families. If you have any questions or need assistance, please don’t hesitate to contact Jennifer Dansicker at 410-952-7920 or jdansicker@ripkenfoundation.org  

GET A GUARANTEED MORTGAGE

50-PLUS YEARS OF FINANCIAL EXPERIENCE

REACH TO ROGER DAWSON FOR DOLLARS

BRUNSWICK - Consider the Brunswick Orioles' four-time Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball State Champion Roger Dawson for your Guaranteed Mortgage. Re-financing, purchases and consolidations all are available through Guaranteed Mortgage, a company with more than 50 years of experience. Call Frederick County-based Guaranteed Mortgage Loan Specialist Roger Dawson at 301-834-8068.

PERSONAL BEST HAS BASEBALL PRODUCTS

CUMBERLAND COMPANY CAN DELIVER STATEWIDE

RUSSELL AND RINEHART ARE READY TO SERVE

CUMBERLAND - Personal Best Athletics is offering deals on balls, bats, spikes, helmets, gloves and catchers' equipment. Custom jerseys and hats can take roughly six weeks. Contact either Ben Russell directly at 301-338-0974 or Dave Rinehart Jr. at 301-729-8711 extension 105 in Cumberland.

POINTSTREAK WORKS, YOU JUST PLAY

905-731-9867

THE LEADER IN REAL-TIME SPORTS STATISTICS

TORONTO - Pointstreak.com, the leader in real-time sports statistics offers technology and products designed to save sports organizations time, money and effort. Contact Kael Herman via either kherman@pointstreak.com or 905-731-9867.

BOARD CAN INTERACT VIA THE INTERNET

ADVISORS MAY MULL ADVICE FROM ALL

YEAR-ROUND FORUM IS OPEN AND ONGOING

BALTIMORE - Judge Kent Boles is chairing Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball Advisory Board open discussions online monitored by Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball Deputy Director Dan Cunningham. Input is to be accepted from the public. Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball Advisory Board members Judge Kent Boles's, Gary Bennett's, Steve Hastings's, Bob Schnebly's and Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball Deputy Director Dan Cunningham's respective e-mail address links
Brewer15@aol.com,
garyb320@gmail.com,

stevehast@comcast.net,
Starlyrara@aol.com,
cunnidan@wcps.k12.md.us

may be copied and pasted to contact them collectively. Consistent with Maryland State open government "sunshine" laws and transparency ideals, effective immediately, any correspondence sent to the Executive Director that is either pertinent to Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball or peripheral to Maryland Semi-Pro Baseball will be shared with the Deputy Director and there should be no expectation of confidentiality in such communications.

Sources: Internet and other media and eyewitness reports