Eighth-Ranked Prince George's Baseball Heads To CCBC Catonsville For Battle Of The Birds On Thursday

GAME DAY INFORMATION
No. 8 Prince George's (23-9-1, 9-8-1 MD JUCO)
at CCBC Catonsville (17-19-1, 9-9-1 MD JUCO)
Thu, April 26, 2017, 3:30 p.m.
Baseball Field | Catonsville, Md.

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

opening pitch… Prince George's concludes its three-game Maryland JUCO road trip at CCBC Catonsville on Thursday afternoon in Catonsville. The Cardinals have won three of the last five meetings in the series against the Owls, but the two teams ended in a 10-all standstill after the game was halted due to darkness on Mar. 9 in Largo.

the word on the cardinals… CCBC Catonsville, who travels to the College of Southern Maryland on Wednesday, comes into play on Wednesday 17-19-1 overall and 9-9-1 in league play after being swept in a doubleheader against Delaware Technical on Sunday. Carl Colbert, Jr. leads the team with a .381 batting average with 43 hits, 40 runs scored, eight doubles, 11 home runs and 38 RBIs. Brady Adam is second on the team, hitting .379 with 36 hits, 20 runs scored, five doubles, four triples, a homer and 19 RBIs while Joe Malagari is also hitting .379 with 36 hits, 23 runs scored, five doubles, a triple, two homeruns and 18 RBIs. Carson Pinkey paces the pitching staff with 50.0 innings pitched, a 3-3 record, one save, 64 strikeouts and a 3.96 ERA.

last time we met… Siri-Jacob Ramirez smoked an RBI double in the bottom of the eighth inning to tie the game at 10 for Prince George's Community College against CCBC Catonsville on Mar. 9. The game ended with the two teams tied at 10 after nine innings and could not go into extra innings due to darkness. Ramirez finished the afternoon 5-for-5 with three RBIs and a run scored for the Owls while Dakota McFadden drilled a two-run homer and completed his afternoon with three RBIs and two runs scored. Thomas Thorgersen registered two hits and an RBI, and Brandon Crosby was an on-base machine with three walks, a hit, an RBI and two runs scored. Ed Nottingham went 4-for-5 with four RBIs and two runs scored for the Cardinals, including a three-run homer in the eighth to temporarily give the visitors back the lead. Brady Adam added a two-run shot and two runs scored while Carl Colbert, Jr., scored three times and added a hit on the afternoon.

last time out… Bay To collected seven hits, seven runs scored and five RBIs to help No. 9 Prince George's Community College earn a doubleheader split with Allegany College of Maryland on Sunday. The Trojans won the opener in their last at-bat 4-3 before the Owls came back to take game two, 17-2. To went 7-for-9 on the afternoon with two homers, a double, seven runs scored and three stolen bases. In the nightcap, To posted a perfect performance at the plate, going 5-for-5 with a homer, a double and three singles. The freshman smacked a solo homer in the first inning of the first game and singled and scored in the third to finish 2-for-4 with two runs scored and a stolen base. Harold Marte added three hits, including his team-leading seventh home run of the season, five RBIs and a run scored for Prince George's while Dakota McFadden posted four hits, two runs scored and four RBIs. Brandon Crosby registered three hits, five runs scored, three stolen bases and an RBI in the nightcap. Michael Hovermill, Jr. got the win in the second game after allowing two runs (one earned) on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks in a seven-inning complete game to earn his fifth win of the year.

next on tap… Prince George's returns home to host Westmoreland on Saturday and Garrett on Sunday. With one win on Saturday, the Owls will wrap up the top seed in the upcoming NJCAA Region XX that Prince George's is hosting. The doubleheader against Westmoreland will be "Catch and Tip Day" with the first 100 fans receiving a free Chick-fil-a sandwich and commemorative hat in honor of former baseball coach Bumps Vaughn courtesy of the Prince George's athletic department. Prince George's will also honor Vaughan in a short pre-game ceremony prior to the first pitch against the Wolfpack.

nationally ranked… Prince George's moved up to the No. 8 spot in the NJCAA Division III Baseball Rankings, announced on Tuesday. The Owls have been ranked in three out of the last four polls after entering the poll in the No. 9 spot for Apr. 4 and also being ranked ninth for the Apr. 18 poll while the squad was in the receiving votes category for the Apr. 11 poll. Prince George's jumped up one spot in the poll after defeating Anne Arundel 10-5 on Thursday and then splitting a doubleheader with Allegany College of Maryland on Sunday after falling 4-3 loss in the opener before taking a 17-2 victory in the nightcap. The Owls received a season-high 20 points to rank eighth with a 2-1 week against Division II opponents after sitting in the ninth spot for polls released on Apr. 4 and Apr. 18. Cumberland County was the unanimous top choice in the poll after receiving all seven first-place votes and 70 points, nine points ahead of Rowan Gloucester's 61 points for second place while St. Cloud Tech (54 points), Niagara County (45 points), Northampton (42 points), Tyler (36 points), Century (25 points), Prince George's (20 points), Brookhaven (14 points) and Onondaga (8 points) rounded out the 10-team poll.

milestone numbers… Prince George's has won 20 games for the first time under head coach Buddy Foster. The Owls reached the milestone with a 3-2 win against No. 17 Frederick on Apr. 15. Foster is now just five wins shy of 100 wins for his career.

theft master… With three steals against Allegany of Maryland on Apr. 23, freshman Brandon Crosby became the first Prince George's player in the last five years to swipe 30 bases in a season. Crosby became just the third player in the last five years on the squad to have 20 thefts, joining Roland Eusesio (26, 2016) and Abdiel Marcano (29, 2014 and 20, 2013) as the only players with 20 steals in that stretch. Freshman Bay To can become the fourth player in that span with 20 steals with two swipes after currently sitting at 18 steals on the year.

in the last five years… Along with Brandon Crosby being the first Prince George's player in the last five years with 30 steals, Crosby is the second player to score 50 runs in a season and the fifth player with 50 hits in a season during that stretch. Crosby currently sits at 51 runs scored and can surpass Roland Eusesio (53, 2016) hit mark with three runs scored while he needs 10 hits to go past Euseio (65, 2016) in base hits in the last five years. Dakota McFadden has posted 17 doubles this season to notch the most doubles in the last five years while his 41 RBIs stands nine behind Jeremy Hagstrom's (50) total from last year. Harold Marte's seven homers is the most for the team in the last five years while Michael Hovermill is the third pitcher to reach five wins in a season.

this is how we roll… Prince George's players have recorded at least two hits in a game 110 times this season. The squad has also had three hits in a game by a player 28 times, four hits by a player six times and four five-hit performances. Brandon Crosby leads the way with 18 multi-hit games this season while Bay To (14), Dakota McFadden (14), Harold Marte (13), Dwayne Coleman (9), Siri-Jacob Ramirez (8), Austin Adams (6), Kilian Bloat (6), Ryan Faircloth (5), Jared Davis (4), Thomas Thorgersen (4), Quentin Rohrbaugh (3), Naquan Holden (2) and Bryan Waltemath (2) have also notch multi-hit contests this season. Crosby has tallied nine games with three hits while Bloat (3), Marte (3), McFadden (3), Coleman (1), Faircloth (1), Holden (1), Ramirez (1). Adams and McFadden have two four-hit games and Coleman and Waltemath each have one four-hit performance this season while To has two five-hit games and Coleman and Ramirez each recorded a five-hit performance this season.

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 13 of its last 17 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 124 runs in the 13 wins and has tallied 28 innings with two or more runs scored, including five four-run frames, five five-run innings, two six-run inning outburst and a nine-run outburst against Montgomery. The Owls have accounted for 106 of their 124 runs in this span in a multiple scoring run inning. The team has pounded out 165 hits in the 13 victories, including 55 extra base hits (38 doubles, 5 triples, 12 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 Saturday.

in the nation… Brandon Crosby leads the National Junior College Athletic Association with 30 stolen bases while Dakota McFadden ranks fourth in doubles (17) and Bay To is 10th in slugging percentage (.785). As a team, the Owls lead Division III in slugging percentage (.585) and batting average (.385) while ranking second in on-base percentage (.468), fourth in stolen bases (86), fifth in triples (18), sixth in home runs (28), eighth in hits (367) and eighth in doubles (84), 10th in runs (306) and 10th in RBIs (260). 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 is tied for the Maryland JUCO lead in stolen bases (27) while ranking second in batting average (.463), second in on-base percentage (.595), fourth in hits (56), fourth in runs scored (51), eighth in doubles (13) and 10th in RBIs (38). Dakota McFadden ranks third the circuit in doubles (17), fourth in ERA (2.76), fifth in batting average (.435), eighth in RBIs (41) and 10th in slugging percentage (.722). Bay To sits third in triples (4), fourth in batting average (.439), sixth in doubles (14), sixth in on base percentage (.519), seventh in slugging percentage (.785) and eighth in stolen bases (18). Michael Hovermill, Jr. is fourth in wins (5) while Jonathan Mahoney ranks sixth in strikeouts per nine innings (11.30) and 10th in strikeouts (54). Dwayne Coleman is 10th in batting average (.414) and Siri-Jacob Ramirez is ninth in triples (3) while Harold Marte sits eighth in slugging percentage (.722). As a team, the Owls lead the conference with a .385 batting average while ranking second in on-base percentage (.468), second in slugging percentage (.585), second in doubles (84), second in triples (18), third in stolen bases (86), third in hits (392), third in RBIs (260), third in runs (306), fourth in home runs (28) and fourth in ERA (4.55) 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 28 home runs this season. Harold Marte leads the team with seven homers while Bay To has smacked five homeruns and Dwayne Coleman and Dakota McFadden have four home runs apiece. Ryan Faircloth has three round trippers while Brandon Crosby has two homers, and Kilian Bloat, Naquan Holden 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 20 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 before the game against Westmoreland County on Saturday.

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

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