Marte Surges Prince George's Baseball To Doubleheader Sweep Against Montgomery

LARGO, Md. – Harold Marte (Largo, Md./Battlefield [Va.]) smacked two homers and drove in six runs to power Prince George's Community College to a Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference (MD JUCO) and NJCAA Region XX baseball doubleheader sweep against Montgomery on Sunday. The Owls (17-6-1, 3-5-1 MD JUCO) won the opener 14-11 and then took the nightcap, 3-2.

Marte went 5-for-6 on the afternoon with two homers, six RBIs and four runs scored. In the nightcap, the freshman smacked his second homer of the day to tie the game at 1 and the registered the game-winning RBI single in the sixth to propel the Largo program to victory. Marte scored the game-tying run in the first game in the second and then came up in the frame to cap a nine-run stanza with a three-run homer to give Prince George's a 9-2 lead. He then added an RBI double in the fourth to help the Owls post a two-game sweep against its longtime rival.

Dakota McFadden (Largo, Md./Heide Trask [N.C.]) picked up the win in the nightcap after allowing two runs on seven hits with four walks and six strikeouts in a seven-inning complete game for his fourth win of the year. McFadden worked out of a bases loaded one-out jam in the first inning and then got the final out of the game on a fielder's choice groundout with the bases loaded. In the opener, McFadden went 2-for-3 with four runs scored at the dish.

Ryan Faircloth (Wade, N.C./Cape Fear) posted two hits, three runs scored and an RBI in the two games for Prince George's, including tying the second game at 2 with a solo home run to center in the fifth. Brandon Crosby (Richmond, Va./Atlee, Mechanicsville) added three hits, two RBIs and a run scored in the opener and Thomas Thorgersen (Largo, Md./Forest Park [Va,]) recorded two hits, three RBIs and a run scored in the opening tilt.

Cole Wycoff paced the Raptors (14-13, 4-6 MD JUCO) with three hits, four RBIs and two runs scored in the first game while Jordan Cissel tallied four RBIs and two hits to start the day. Greg Brown added five hits, three runs scored and an RBI while Brock Antognoni had three hits, three runs scored and an RBI in the two games.

After the 25-run slugfest in the opener, the two teams settled in for an old fashion pitchers' duel in the nightcap where the Owls scored the final two runs of the game to earn the 3-2 win and complete the two-game sweep.

Trailing 2-1 in the fifth, Faircloth led off the fifth with a solo home run to center to square the nightcap at 2.

Dwayne Coleman (Lothian, Md./Southern) opened the sixth for Prince George's with a single through the left side and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. Marte, who had already homered in the game and had five RBIs on the day, sent a high fly ball toward the right field line that fell in front of the right fielder to allow Coleman to touch home with the decisive run and give the host a 3-2 edge.

Just like in the first game, Montgomery made the game interesting in the seventh. With two outs, a pair of walks and a single loaded the bases before McFadden got out of the jam with a fielder's choice grounder to shortstop to end the game.

The Raptors got the scoring started with a run in the first to grab a 1-0 lead. Montgomery scored on an error with one out to take the advantage. McFadden then danced out of a bases loaded jam by inducing an inning-ending double play.

Marte tied the game in the second with his sixth homer of the season to left field, but the Raptors retook the edge in the third when a run crossed the plate on a balk for a 2-1 edge. Thanks to the power of Faircloth and the base hit by Marte, the Owls came away with the win.

Sparked by nine runs in the second inning that included a Marte three-run bomb to center field, the Owls won the opener 14-11. The Largo team seemed to be in control of the game only the Raptors did their best to make sure every run counted.

Trailing 14-7 going into the last inning, Montgomery scored four times in the seventh and got the tying run to the on-deck circle before Kevin Kornieck (Largo, Md./Woodbridge [Va.]) ended the game with a strikeout to secure the win in the opener.

The Raptors scored two runs in the first inning to grab an early two-run lead thanks to back-to-back RBI doubles by Brown and Antognoni.

After Prince George's had some loud outs in the first by driving the outfielders back to the fence, the Owls hoot it in the second with nine runs on six hits to take a 9-2 advantage.

McFadden started the offensive outburst with a double to center before Marte and Faircloth walked to load the bases. Thorgersen followed with an RBI single to center to bring home McFadden before Kilian Bloat (Liberty, N.Y./Liberty) smacked a two-run double down the right field line to give the Largo program the lead it would not relinquish at 3-2. After Crosby plated Thorgersen with an RBI double, Coleman scored Bloat on a run-scoring single to center. With two outs, McFadden walked to put runners at the corners before Marte launched an "Earl Weaver Special" to center to cap the nine-run inning.

The Owls added a run in the fourth to extend its lead to 10-2. McFadden reached on a fielder's choice and came around from first to touch home on Marte's RBI double.

Montgomery responded with four runs in the fifth to trim the margin to 10-6. Wycoff drilled a three-run double and Cissel hit a run-scoring double to account for the Raptors four runs. Kornieck then got out of a bases loaded one-out threat with a pop up and a strikeout.

A Jamill Canaan RBI single in the sixth made it a three-run game at 10-7.

Prince George's added what proved to be four key insurance runs in the sixth to give the Owls a 14-7 lead. Siri-Jacob Ramirez (Orlando, Fla./Cenapec [Dominican Republic]) walked to start the frame and moved to second on McFadden's single through the left side before Marte loaded the bases with a single to center. After Faircloth coaxed a bases loaded walk to force home Ramirez, Thorgersen plated two runs on a two-run single to center. Crosby then capped the four-run outburst with an RBI single through the left side to bring home Faircloth. Montgomery then scored four runs in the top of the seventh and put the tying run in the on deck circle with two outs, but a strikeout ended the game.

Jonathan Mahoney (Largo, Md./Gar-Field [Va.]) earned the win in the opener while Korneick picked up the three-inning save.

The Owls improved to 4-0 against NJCAA Region XX after also sweeping a doubleheader against CACC-South on Mar. 26. Prince George's will face Westmoreland County at home in a twinbill on April 29 looking to nail down the No. 1 seed in the Region XX Tournament on May 12 in Largo.

Prior to Sunday's sweep, the Raptors had won seven-straight dating back to the 2014 season and had swept the last three regular season series against the Owls. Prince George's last win in the series was a 17-16 decision in the 2014 Region XX Tournament when the Owls went on to win the region and advance to the NJCAA Division III World Series.

Prince George's starts a three-game road trip at Harford on Tuesday. First pitch is 6:30 p.m.

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