CCBC Essex Downs Prince George's Baseball, 8-4

LARGO, Md. – CCBC Essex defeated Prince George's Community College 8-4 in the Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference (MDJUCO) baseball opener for both teams on Tuesday. The game was called in the top of the ninth inning due to darkness with the Knights batting.

Ryan Faircloth (Wade, N.C./Cape Fear) paced the Owls (10-2, 0-1 MDJUCO) with two hits and an RBI while Bay To (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann) registered two runs scored. Dwayne Coleman (Lothian, Md./Southern) posted a hit, a run scored and an RBI, and Naquan Holden (Brooklyn, N.Y./Perkiomen) also knocked in a run on the afternoon.

Michael Fisher fueled the Knights (4-3, 1-0 MDJUCO) with two hits and two RBIs while Chase Montanez notched two RBIs, a hit and a run scored, and JD Bruck posted two runs scored, a hit and an RBI in the winning effort.

CCBC Essex jumped out to the advantage and watched Prince George's rally to make it a one-run game before the Knights scored four unanswered runs to earn the 8-4 victory.

Fisher got the scoring started in the first for CCBC Essex when he hit an RBI single off the pitcher while an error on the play allowed a second run to cross the plate for a 2-0 lead.

Montanez increased the advantage to four runs for the Knights with a run-scoring double in the third and a sacrifice fly in the fifth.

Prince George's responded with three runs in the fifth inning. The stanza started when To reached on an error. With one out, Coleman plated To with an RBI single to left field. After Quentin Rohrbaugh (Largo, Md./Sherando [Va.]) singled to right and a walk, Coleman touched home on a wild pitch. Holden brought home Rohhrbaugh when he reached on an error. The Owls would then load the bases with one out, but a pop up and a fielder's choice ended the threat with Prince George's trailing, 4-3.

After the Largo program came back to cut the margin to one run, CCBC Essex scored a run in the sixth on a Fisher RBI single through the left side and then added three runs in the seventh thanks to a Bruck RBI single, a run scoring on a wild pitch and a James Husar sacrifice fly for an 8-3 advantage.

The Owls scored a run in the eighth after To walked, moved to second on a passed ball and came around to score on Faircloth's run-scoring double to cut the margin to 8-4. The game was then called in the top of the ninth due to darkness.

Dakota McFadden (Largo, Md./Heide Trask [N.C.]) took the loss for the Largo team.

Prince George's returns to action on Thursday at home against CCBC Catonsville. Game time is 3 p.m.