Madison walks off with Senior Day win over Christian, clinches league title

“This,” both coaches agreed, “is as good as it gets.”

Fighting for an Eastern League baseball championship, Christian High School and Madison went into the seventh inning locked in a scoreless tie.

Christian scratched out a run in the top of the seventh. But Madison rallied in the bottom half, scoring two runs and setting off a wild Senior Day celebration with a 2-1 win that clinched the Eastern League championship.

Harrison Brown played the hero, belting a bases-loaded double over the right fielder’s head to win the game.

“I saw three straight fastballs, and didn’t think the pitcher could blow the ball by me,” said Brown, a junior. “I couldn’t strike out in that spot. I had to get the ball in the air, stay out of the double play. Generally, my power is to the opposite field, so the right-field alley is my spot.”

Asked if he had ever had a bigger hit, Brown answered quickly: “Never.”

It isn’t the first time Brown has been in the spotlight. He was the CIF San Diego Section Kicker of the Year in football, connecting on 6 of 9 field goal attempts with a long of 57 yards. He made 32 of 32 PATs and averaged 37.4 yards on 28 punts.

“I love baseball, but football is my passion,” Brown said. “I was a soccer player my whole life and didn’t play football until my freshman year. Football is probably my sport in college.”

Madison’s rally started when Keith Clark, hitting ninth in the batting order, opened the bottom of the seventh with an infield single. Jorge Luque worked a walk and William Gardner sacrificed the runners to second and third.

Leo Wilderman was walked intentionally to load the bases, bringing up Brown. His big hit improved the club to 21-6 overall and a perfect 11-0 in league play.

Both starting pitchers - freshman Talon Brown for Christian and senior Colin Gallagher of Madison - would appear to have a future in baseball.

The 6-foot-4 Brown, whose fastball touches 86-88 mph, pitched 5 1/3 innings of shutout ball as the Patriots executed three double plays behind him. He entered the game with a 0.28 ERA over 24 2/3 innings.

Gallagher threw 6 2/3 innings of shutout ball before walking Jackson Oman in the seventh, who came in to score. Gallagher, a lefty who entered the game with a 5-1 record, struck out seven.

“Every game we play with Madison seems to be a one-run game,” said Christian coach Mike Mitchell, whose team lost 4-3 to the Warhawks on Monday and is now 17-9-1 overall and 9-2 in league play with a game Friday against Madison remaining before the playoffs.

Christian is a Division 2 team and came into Wednesday’s game seeded No. 4.

“If we can beat Madison on Friday, and some other things fall into place, we could be the No. 1 seed,” Mitchell said. “But as long as we’re a top-four seed, get a bye and a home game, I will be happy.”

Madison is an Open Division team, sitting at No. 8 in the eight-team field.

“The Open Division is really tough, but we beat (likely top seed) Cathedral Catholic 1-0, so we can handle it,” Madison coach Robert Lovato said. “But it won’t be easy.”

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This story was originally published May 13, 2026 at 8:58 PM.