Prince George's Baseball Falls At Harford, 10-8

BEL AIR, Md. – Harford Community College defeated ninth-ranked Prince George's Community College 10-8 in Maryland Junior College Athletic Conference (MD JUCO) baseball action on Tuesday. The Owls (17-8-1, 3-6-1 MD JUCO) joined the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III ranks for the first time on Tuesday after receiving 12 votes to rank ninth in the country.

Brandon Crosby (Richmond, Va./Atlee, Mechanicsville) posted two doubles, two runs scored and two stolen bases. The freshman now has 21 stolen bases and leads both the NJCAA Division III and Maryland JUCO in the category.

Dakota McFadden (Largo, Md./Heide Trask [N.C.]) had two hits on the night, including a two-run homer for his third homer of the year. Austin Adams (Fayetteville, Ga./Whitewater) added two hits and two runs scored while Siri-Jacob Ramirez (Orlando, Fla./Cenapec [Dominican Republic]) registered two hits, s run scored and an RBI. The first seven hitters in the Prince George's lineup had at least two hits in the game.

Peyton Sorrels paced the Fighting Owls (26-5-1, 13-0-1 MD JUCO) with two hits, three RBIs and a run scored while Ryan Shinn and Ronnie Krsolovic had two hits, a run scored and an RBI apiece and Tre Todd hit a solo home run and scored three times in the winning effort.

Harford used three-straight three-run innings to take the lead and then held off a furious comeback attempt by Prince George's to earn its sixth-straight win in the series. The Fighting Owls defeated the Owls 14-9 on Mar. 27 in Largo.

Trailing 3-0 in the bottom of the first, Harford powered up with solo home runs by Todd, Shinn and Tanner Forry to even the game at 3.

A three-run second gave the Fighting Owls a 6-3 lead after a run scored on an error and a two-run single by Sorrels. Krsolovic posted an RBI infield single, Sorrels a run-scoring single through the right side and the third run touched home on a failed pickoff attempt in the third to increase the Harford advantage to six runs after the squad's third-straight three-run inning.

In the fifth, Crosby led off for the second time in the game with a double. He then stole third and scored on a throwing error on the play. Adams walked to reach base for the third time in five innings and moved to third on Bay To's (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann) double before Ramirez plated Adams on an RBI single through the left side and To touched home on an error on the play. McFadden and Bryan Waltemath (Bowie, Md./American [Fla.]), who had four hits on the night, walked before Quentin Rohrbaugh (Largo, Md./Sherando [Va.]) coaxed a bases loaded walk to bring home Ramirez to cut the margin to 9-7.

Adam Rapp added an insurance run for the Fighting Owls with a solo home run in the eighth for the 10-7 edge.

Waltemath singled to left field to lead off the ninth and advanced to second on an error on the play. He moved to third on a groundout and touched home on a balk to set the final score at 10-8.

Prince George's jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the top of the first. Crosby doubled to left and Adams singled up the middle to put runners at the corners with no outs. The duo then successfully completed a double steal for the Owls first run of the night before McFadden smacked his third homer of the season, a two-run shot, to left center for the three-run lead. The Fighting Owls then scored three times in the first, second and third and held off a comeback attempt by the Owls to earn the season sweep.

Ryan Faircloth (Wade, N.C./Cape Fear) took the loss for the Owls. Thomas Thorgersen (Largo, Md./Forest Park [Va.]) registered nine strikeouts in four innings of relief.

The Largo program went 5-for-20 with runners in scoring position with four RBIs and six strikeouts. The Owls had a runner in scoring position with one out or less three times and could not push a run across. Prince George's had the bases loaded twice, including the four-run fifth before both threats ended with a pair of strikeouts.  

Prince George's returns to the diamond for a nine-inning affair at CCBC Catonsville on Thursday afternoon. Game time is 3:30 p.m. The two teams ended in a 10-all standstill due to darkness before the game was halted in Largo on Mar. 9.

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