Henlopen North champion Cape won the Henlopen Conference baseball championship 13-4 over Henlopen South champion Lake Forest May 29 on the edges of Killens Pond State Park.

The Vikings capitalized early and often, with senior Emmett Wheatley getting the party started in the first at-bat of the game.

“Get my foot down, be on time,” Wheatley said he told himself.  “Julian [Christman] is a great pitcher, so I just wanted to meet him out in front and catch a barrel. Not getting too big, just taking everything back up the middle.”

The lead-off leader went 3-for-4 and scored four times.

“He's such a threat with his speed and his ability to hit pitches all over the field,” coach Ben Evick said about Wheatley. “He caused a lot of havoc today, which is exactly what we want him to do.”

Christman’s counterpart on the mound for Cape was Dom Mangini, who came to the plate after Wheatley scored on a passed ball and senior Jack Simeone scored on a Joe Ruark single. Mangini walloped the ball nearly to the fence, scoring Ruark to give the Vikings a 3-0 edge. The junior knew how important early, sustained offense was against Christman.  

“He's got to be the best pitcher in the state,” he said. “Every pitch he competes with, and I love going against the best. I saw the off speed well, and then saw the fastball low. I had a good rhythm in the box, and I was just doing my thing smooth and slow.”

Mangini finished the day 3-for-5 at the plate, adding another double in the sixth and two more RBIs to arrive at three overall. 

On the mound, the junior was even more impressive, sitting in the high 80s with his fastball and hitting the lower 90s at times. He only gave up one earned run, while striking out 10, helping his team redeem a loss to the Spartans April 30.

“I felt like it was jumping out of my hand with the adrenaline of being one of the best pitchers going against the best pitcher,” Mangini said. “There's nothing better than a little bit of revenge, but being classy with it, not showing off, just playing your game.”

Mangini received a standing ovation after hitting his pitch limit in the seventh inning, putting Simeone on the mound to close out the game. In addition to closing out the championship, the senior ended his conference career with three RBIs, adding a double to the effort.

Prior to a five-run inning in the top of the sixth, the contest was close after Christman smacked a two-run shot to get the Spartans within two, 5-3. However, the big inning from Cape led to a bullpen call and the Vikings continued to score, resulting in a 13-4 victory.

“It feels amazing, especially after losing to them earlier in the season,” Wheatley said. “Coming back here and getting the win, it feels great.”

“They didn't want to lose that game, losing 2-1, and they felt like we missed an opportunity to win that game,” Evick said. “They knew coming into today that this is an opportunity to get a little bit of redemption here.”

Cape is defending a state championship this year, but that didn’t diminish the team’s thirst for regular-season wins, a division title and conference crown.

“That’s something that we shoot for, and the kids set this goal at the beginning of the year to win the North, win the conference, and you’ve got to put yourself in a position to do that,” Evick said. “We're a young team, so we just need to work hard, try to get better as the season goes on.”

Evick acknowledged the losses, but his team might be rounding into form at the right time.

“We knew we were going to take some lumps, but wanted to be playing the best baseball we can going into the tournament,” Evick said. “We've been playing really good baseball, so guys are confident. Stepping in against one of the best arms we've seen and having a really good day against him was really good for us going into the tournament.” 

No. 4 Cape is set to host either No. 13 Red Lion or No. 20 Appoquinimink at 4 p.m., Thursday, June 4.