The Middletown Knights Varsity Baseball team’s 2025–2026 start has shown many shades of the program’s championship DNA, the same qualities that fueled the Knights’ first-ever state title in 2017 and their second in 2024. This year’s group has opened the season with a level of confidence, energy, and unity that feels familiar to anyone who has watched Middletown baseball at its best.
While the Knights’ success can be linked to several factors, one of the most important is the team’s chemistry and brotherhood on and off the field. That bond has become a defining trait of the program, and this year’s roster has embraced it fully.
“It’s truly one of the best things in sports” head coach and business teacher/assistant athletic director Andy Baker said.
“There are times where somebody didn’t have their best at-bat. Somebody didn’t have their best stuff on the mound. But all the guys around them [on the team] lift them up, and then come and rescue and score some runs, get some good pitching, and all of a sudden, we’re back.”-Frederick News Post 4-13-26
Junior third baseman and pitcher Ryan Coulby, who was stellar in the Knights’ 7–0 win against Catoctin where he allowed just one hit with seven strikeouts while earning the win on the mound, compared his view on the team’s togetherness, saying “We’re like a family rather then a baseball team”.
Junior pitcher and outfielder Eddy Quinn, who pitched 5 and a third scoreless innings of relief during the Knights’ win against Brunswick on Monday, allowing four hits, two walks and a hit batter while striking out four on 91 pitches and left with a huge ovation from the fairly large Keller Field crowd, which Quinn describes as “amazing”, Quinn said of his teammates and fan support following the win:
“That’s an amazing feeling, I know they [my teammates] got my back, Quinn says. I know they’re all gonna support me [every game]. They’ve been doing it all season, so it’s great to see.”-Frederick News Post 4-13-26
But the Knights’ early-season momentum isn’t just coming from returning players. Several newly added varsity athletes and transfer students have stepped into important roles and made immediate impacts.
Senior left fielder and pitcher Nate Borawski, who hit the go‑ahead solo home run in the bottom of the 6th for his first homer with Middletown in Tuesday’s 9–8 win over TJ (a game resumed after a rain suspension earlier in the season), described his homer as a “truly amazing feeling” and a swing that “was like one of my dad’s,” referring to his father, Paul Borawski, who himself is an MHS Baseball alumnus known for his strong swing and team spirit.
Borawski, a three sport athlete in football, baseball, and basketball, as he was a key player for all teams, including his key contributions to the basketball teams great run that ended in the semis vs Lackey (who went on to win that title. Borawski, who transferred to Middletown from Brunswick this year because of the past success of Middletown sports, said of his new role:
“It was a little hard at first, you know, getting myself familiar with the new guys in the dugout and the new coaches even though I played football with some of the guys like Ryan [Coulby] says Borawski, but after they saw what I could do, I fit right in.”
Another newer addition to the team this year, though no stranger to MHS baseball, is junior left‑handed pitcher and first baseman Jackson Raymond, I caught up with “JayRay” as he is known among his fellow peers, who described his role and relationship on the team as “like your part of a big family”.
“It’s really all about the guy next to me, more than anything, you know, Raymond says, I just like taking the game one at-bat at a time, and when I get the nod from Coach [Baker] I go out there and give 110% every practice or game, and the guys in the dugout are incredibly supportive even if I don’t really do as well as I can, you kind of feel like you’re part of a big family”
The Knights also benefit from the leadership of players who have lived through a championship run. Senior center fielder Cory Godlove, one of the few remaining members of the 2024 state title team, brings experience and perspective that younger players look up to. Godlove, who contributed to that championship when he was called up late in that season as just a sophomore, shared his thoughts on what it takes to get back to that level:
“if we want to get back [to states] , we really just need to continue doing the simple things, and just coming to practice each and everyday getting 1% better being a team and just contributing as a team and just being there for each other”
Godloves father, Former DFC for Frederick County Sheriff’s Office of 20 years Deputy Jay Godlove, who is considered to be a passionate Middletown baseball fan, as well as also being one of this years newest additions to Middletown’s strong staff with his new role as a support staff believes the Knights could get back to that state title game, which are scheduled this year on May 22nd and 23rd at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, Maryland, the former home of the Orioles High A affiliate Aberdeen Ironbirds (now Frederick Keys) by simply “having good pitching and speed, which we have a lot of, and do what we do”
With returning contributors, impactful newcomers, and a strong sense of unity, the Knights are building the foundation for another promising season, one that gives promise to anybody who has continued to support the Knights as they take the field every game, like Mr. Godlove 🙂
Thank you to Ryan, Nate, Jay-Ray, Cory and Mr. Godlove for your time.
Reporting from Jackson “JC” Chubin, Round Table Media Local Sports Editor/Writer
Quinn and Baker quotes from https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/reliever-quinn-helps-calm-middletown-035900113.html
