Prince George's Baseball Opens Six-Game Homestand Against CCBC Dundalk On Thursday

GAME DAY INFORMATION
CCBC Dundalk (8-19-1, 4-9-1 MD JUCO) at
Prince George's (18-8-1, 4-7-1 MD JUCO)
Thu, April 13, 2017, 3:30 p.m.
Prince George's Baseball Field | Largo, Md.

LIVE STATS | FOLLOW ON TWITTER

PRINCE GEORGE'S: ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
CCBC DUNDALK: ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS

opening pitch… Prince George's returns home to start a four-team, six-game homestand on Thursday when CCBC Dundalk comes to town. The Owls have won four of the last six against the Lions, but CCBC Dundalk took the opening game in the series this year with a 5-4 decision on Mar. 21.

the word on the lions… CCBC Dundalk comes into the contest 8-19-1 overall and 4-9-1 in league play after falling 9-0 to Anne Arundel on Tuesday. Jamie Naill Jr leads the team with a .376 batting average with 35 hits, 21 runs scored, four doubles and seven RBIs. John Staab ranks second with a .305 batting average with 25 hits, 10 runs scored, four doubles, a triple, a homer and 12 RBIs while Justin Mack has posted 21 hits, 10 runs scored, four doubles, two homers and 10 RBIs. Caleb Armour leads the hurlers with 33.2 innings pitched with a 2-1 record, a 3.48 ERA and 31 strikeouts.

last time we met… CCBC Dundalk edged Prince George's Community College 5-4 in 10 innings on Mar. 21. Bay To paced the Owls with a two-run single while Dakota McFadden tallied a hit, a run scored and an RBI, and Brandon Crosby added a hit and an RBI in the loss. Shawn Dignazio retired 18 of the 20 batters he faced, tossing six scoreless innings in relief with eight strikeouts to earn the win. Jones recorded two hits and two runs scored for CCBC Dundalk while Myles White added a two-run base hit in the sixth to tie the game at 4 in the winning effort.

last time out… Michael Hovermill, Jr.  pitched six strong innings while Austin Adams and Dwayne Coleman each had four hits and two RBIs to lift Prince George's Community College past CCBC Essex 6-2 on Tuesday. Bay To added three hits, an RBI and a run scored for Prince George's while Dakota McFadden registered a hit, two runs scored and an RBI, and James Wilcox III pitched two shutout innings to earn the save in the winning effort.

next on tap… Prince George's continues its four-team, six-game homestand on Saturday with a doubleheader against Frederick before Anne Anne Arundel (Apr. 20) and Chesapeake (Apr. 22) come to town in that span to conclude the home stretch. The twinbill against Chesapeake has been moved from a road two-game set to home. Prince George's has 16 regular season games left on the schedule and will play 12 of those contests at the Prince George's Community College Baseball Field.

nationally ranked… After ending the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III Baseball Rankings in the ninth spot last week, Prince George's dropped out of the poll this week and into the category of receiving votes with two points.

theft master… Freshman Brandon Crosby became the third player in the last five years to reach 20 steals in a season after swiping two bases against Harford on Apr. 4. Crosby, who currently has 21 bases, joins Roland Eusesio (26, 2016) and Abdiel Marcano (29, 2014 and 20, 2013) as the only players with 20 steals in that stretch.

punch out kings… Five Prince George's pitchers have recorded nine strikeouts or more in a game this season. Jonathan Mahoney posted 11 strikeouts in a five-inning game against Central Virginia on Feb. 8 while Michael Hovermill, Jr. registered 11 strikeouts in nine innings against Anne Arundel on Mar. 28 for the top strikeout mark this season. Dakota McFadden struck out 10 College of Faith hitters on Feb. 18 in seven innings while Mahoney posted nine punch outs against Orange County on Feb. 26 and Kilian Bloat registered nine strikeouts against UVAA on Feb. 17. Thomas Thorgersen recorded nine of his 12 outs recorded via the strikeout against Harford on Apr. 4. Prince George's suffered its first loss of the season against the Fighting Owls when a pitcher tallied at least nine punch outs in a game and sits 5-1 on the year when a hurler reaches that feat.

hovermill honored… Michael Hovermill, Jr. was named the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III Pitcher of the Week for the week of March 27-April 2. It is Hovermill's first honor of the season. Hovermill pitched a nine inning complete-game gem in a 7-1 win against Anne Arundel Community College on Mar. 28, allowing one run on four hits with one walk and 11 strikeouts on 117 pitches. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning five times and retired 12 of 13 batters faced from the second to the fifth inning with the only hitter reaching base on an error in that stretch. The Riverhawks were 1-for-9 with runners in scoring position and twice Anne Arundel had runners in scoring position with no outs and the freshman got out of both innings unscathed. 

what a stretch… After going through a five-game winless streak, Prince George's has won eight of its last 11 games, including going 6-0 against NJCAA Division III teams and have won all four games against Division III Region XX competition. The squad has posted 67 runs in the eight wins and has tallied 13 innings with two or more runs scored, including four four-run frames, four five-run innings and a nine-run outburst against Montgomery. The Owls have accounted for 55 of their 67 runs in this span in a multiple scoring run inning. The team has pounded out 91 hits in the eight victories, including 31 extra base hits (21 doubles, 4 triples, 6 home runs).

region xx tournament… Prince George's Community College will host the NJCAA Division III Region XX Tournament on May 12-14 and looks to be in good position to be the top seed in the three-day event. The Owls swept CACC-Allegheny 6-2 and 11-1 on Mar. 26 and then swept Montgomery 14-11 and 3-2 on Apr. 2. Westmoreland County will come to town on Apr. 29.

in the nation… Brandon Crosby leads the National Junior College Athletic Association with 21 stolen bases. Dakota McFadden ranks fourth in doubles (13). Harold Marte has moved into ninth in home runs (6) and ninth in slugging percentage (.803) while Bay To is seventh in triples (4). As a team, the Owls lead Division III in slugging percentage (.584) while ranking third in batting average (.382), third in triples (17), third in on-base percentage (.466), sixth in home runs (21) and eighth in stolen bases (63). NOTE: Prince George's is an NJCAA Division III member so these rankings only include Division III programs in the nation.

in the league… Brandon Crosby ranks second in Maryland JUCO in stolen bases (21), third in hits (46), third in batting average (.465), fourth in doubles (12), fifth in on-base percentage (.545), seventh in RBIs (34) and seventh in runs scored (37). Dakota McFadden ranks second the circuit in doubles (12), fourth in ERA (2.57), eighth in wins (4), ninth in strikeouts per nine innings (10.02) and 10th in RBIs (29). Jonathan Mahoney ranks fourth in strikeouts per nine innings (11.25), eighth in wins (4) and ninth in strikeouts (41). Bay To sits third in triples (4) and ninth in slugging percentage (.716) while Siri-Jacob Ramirez is seventh in triples (3), and Austin Adams, Kilian Bloat and Quentin Rohrbaugh are tied for 10th in the category (2). Harold Marte sits fourth in slugging percentage (.803), seventh in batting average (.423) and eighth in home runs (6). As a team, the Owls lead the conference with a .382 batting average while ranking second in on-base percentage (.466), second in slugging percentage (.584), second in triples (17), third in hits (310), third in doubles (67), third in RBIs (213), third in stolen bases (63), fourth in runs (246), fifth in home runs (21) and fifth in ERA (5.09) in the circuit. NOTE: The Maryland JUCO is comprised of all the teams from Maryland no matter what division affiliation (Division I, II or III).

the long ball… Prince George's has smacked 21 home runs this season. Harold Marte leads the team with six homers while Dwayne Coleman has smacked four home runs, and Ryan Faircloth, Dakota McFadden and Bay To each have three round trippers. Brandon Crosby and Siri-Jacob Ramirez each have one long ball this season.  

the roster… Head coach Buddy Foster has added 11 freshmen to his team in 2017 while returning 10 players from last year's team.

a loss to the owls family... Legendary Prince George's baseball coach William "Bumps" Vaughan passed away at the age of 90 on Feb. 25. In his long career as a head coach includes 21 years at the helm of the Owls from 1986-2005. The Owls will be wearing a special patch on their uniforms in honor of Vaughan and the athletic department will pay tribute to the legendary coach at an upcoming game.

about the coach… Head coach Buddy Foster enters his sixth season as the head coach of the baseball team. Foster has been at Prince George's since the 2009 campaign after serving as the squad's pitching coach for three seasons before being elevated to the head coach position. He

social media... Follow the Owls on Twitter (@PGCCOWLS) and become a fan on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/C/pgccowls/) for all the latest Prince George's Community College Athletics news.