Montgomery, Prince George's And CCAC-South Advance To Day Two Of NJCAA Division III Region XX Tournament
Game 1 – Montgomery 13, CCAC-South 3 (5 innings)
Montgomery scored 11 runs in the first two innings and never looked back to advance to Monday's 11 a.m. game against top seed Prince George's with a 13-3 win against CCAC-South. Jamil Canaan fueled a seven-run first inning with a three-run triple to right field to hand the Raptors a 7-1 advantage en route to a 13-1 lead after four innings.
The Tigers scored two runs in the fifth to make it a 10-run game before the final out was thrown out at third trying to steal to end the contest in five innings.
Canaan paced Montgomery with three RBIs, a hit and a run scored while Josh Tejada added a hit, a run scored and two RBIs, and Aaron Brooks posted two hits and two runs scored. Hurler Vincent Anninos allowed three runs (two earned) on five hits with three strikeouts to earn the win.
Omar Pineda powered the Tigers with a hit and two runs scored while Kenneth Bruno and Luis Conteras each had an RBI in the loss.
Game 2 – Prince George's 6, Butler County 5 (10 innings)
LARGO, Md. – Ryan Faircloth hit a walk-off single down the left field line to propel Prince George's past Butler County 6-5 in 10 innings to advance to Monday's 11 a.m. game against Montgomery.
The Owls rallied with five runs in the ninth to tie the game at 5 capped by Bay To's cue shot into right field to even the score at 5 with one out. The squad had a pair of chances in the ninth, but could not score. Kilian Bloat reached on an error in the 10th and came around to score on Faircloth's base hit.
Brandon Crosby paced Prince George's with three hits, two RBIs and a run scored while Faircloth tallied two hits, a run scored and an RBI. Kevin Korneick picked up the win after tossing the final two innings of the game.
Jeremy Moorhead was holding the Owls at bay for the first eight innings, allowing no runs on four hits with four strikeouts before the ninth inning. Jeff Smolen added a hit and two RBIs while Colter Cavalero posted two hits, a run scored and an RBI in the loss.
Game 3 – CCAC-South 13, Butler County 3 (6 innings)
LARGO, Md. – CCAC-South scored in five of the six innings, including a six-run fifth to defeat Butler County and advance to Monday's elimination game at 2:30 p.m. against the loser of Montgomery and Prince George's.
The Tigers jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first two innings before Colten Cavalero smacked a three-run homer to center to trim the margin to 5-3 in the third. CCAC-South then scored the final eight runs to earn the win after Kenneth Bruno was hit with a pitch with the bases loaded in the sixth frame for the walk-off victory.
Luis Conteras powered the Tigers with three hits, two runs scored and four RBIs including a two-run homer in the fifth. Bruno registered two hits, two runs scored and two RBIs while Omar Pineda had a hit and three runs scored. Joseph Cinello picked up the win after allowing three runs on three hits with seven strikeouts in six innings.
Colter powered the Pioneers with the three-run homer in the squad's final game of the tournament.
Game 4 – Prince George's 8, Montgomery 7
For the second-straight day Prince George's won the game on its last at-bat after Dakota McFadden plated Bay To with the decisive run on a line-drive double to right center to propel the Owls to an 8-7 win.
Brock Antognoni capped a four-run rally with a solo homer to center to erase a 6-3 deficit and hand the Raptors a 7-6 edge. Bay To then tied the game in the ninth on a single to left center before McFadden gave the squad its second-straight walk-off.
Dwayne Coleman, who scored the tying run, recorded two hits, three RBIs and a run scored while Brandon Crosby recorded two hits, two runs scored and an RBI. Jared Davis chipped in two hits and a run scored and Kevin Korneick picked up the win in relief for the second-straight day after tossing a scoreless ninth.
Antognoni tallied three hits, two RBIs and two runs scored while Cole Wykoff added two hits and three RBIs in the loss.
Game 5 – Montgomery 9, CCAC-South 2
Montgomery scored five runs in the third inning and never looked back to earn its second win against CCAC-South and move onto the championship round against Prince George's with a 9-2 win in the elimination game.
Jake Paholski paced the Raptor with three hits and an RBI while Cole Wykoff added two hits and an RBI and Greg Brown recorded a hit, an RBI and two runs scored. Naja Garcia posted three hits and three runs scored and Jordan Cissel added two runs and two hits. Patrick Burke picked up the win after tossing 5.2 scoreless innings with five strikeouts.
Kenneth Bruno powered the Tigers with three hits while Omar Pineda registered a hit and an RBI and Rafael Ramos recorded two hits on the afternoon.
Game 6 - Prince George's 6, Montgomery 5
Bay To (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann) hit a two-run single in the seventh inning to propel Prince George's Community College to its fourth National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region XX Baseball Championship with a 6-5 come-from behind victory against Montgomery on Tuesday.
With the win, the Owls (31-12-1) will host Surry Community College on Friday and Saturday in a best two-out-of-three series. The two teams will play a pair nine-inning games on Friday starting at 12 p.m. and if necessary the two teams will come back and play a deciding third game on Saturday at 11 a.m. The Knights won NJCAA Division III Region X with a 16-10 win against Danville. The winner of this series advances to the NJCAA Division III World Series.
To, who had the game-tying hit in the 6-5 win against Butler on Sunday and the game-tying hit in the 8-7 victory against Montgomery on Monday, decided to put Prince George's ahead this time with his at-bat in the seventh. After Dwayne Coleman (Lothian, Md./Southern) plated the tying run on an RBI single to left field, To found the hole on the left side of the infield and into left field to bring home Brandon Crosby (Richmond, Va./Atlee, Mechanicsville) and Coleman to hand the Owls a 6-4 advantage.
The Raptors (25-25) scored a run on an RBI groundout by Chris Amparo in the eighth to make it a one-run game. Jordan Cissel and Naja Garcia walked with one out, but Ryan Faircloth (Wade, N.C./Cape Fear) induced a pair of groundout to maintain a 6-5 edge. James Wilcox III (Sterling, Va./Dominion) came in and pitched a 1-2-3 ninth on a fly out, strikeout and To groundout at shortstop to secure the victory.
Dakota McFadden (Largo, Md./Heide Trask [N.C.]) paced the Owls with two hits, two RBIs and a run scored including his ninth homer of the year. Coleman registered a hit, two runs scored and an RBI while To had a hit and two RBIs to give the squad its fourth region title after also taking home the title in 1978, 1979 and 2014.
Michael Hovermill, Jr. (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Spackenkill) allowed four runs (two earned) on eight hits with five walks and six strikeouts in seven innings to pick up his team-leading seventh home run of the year. Crosby, Faircloth, McFadden, To and Kevin Kornieck (Largo, Md./Woodbridge [Va.]) were named to the All-Tournament team.
Cole Wykoff and Chris Amparo each had two hits and an RBI for Montgomery while Darren Prebble posted two hits and a run scored in the loss. Wykoff, Vincent Anninos, Brock Antognoni and Greg Brown were selected to the All-Tournament team.
For the fourth time this season the two neighboring county teams battled and for the fourth time it was a fight to the bitter end, but at the end of the day Prince George's was hoisting the trophy.
The Raptors got the scoring started thanks to a pair of runs scoring on an error in the second for a 2-0 lead.
The Owls answered right back in the bottom of the frame with two runs thanks to back-to-back homers from McFadden and Harold Marte (Haymarket, Va./Battlefield) to even the score at 2. The power-hitting duo pace the team with nine homers apiece.
The game remained tied at 2 until the sixth when Coleman was hit was a pitch and came around to score on McFadden's RBI double to right center for a 3-2 lead.
In the seventh, Montgomery regained the advantage on a 3-2 count homerun by Brown and a run-scoring double by Wykoff for a 4-3 edge.
A three-run bottom of the seventh sealed the win for the Largo program. Jared Davis (Largo, Md./Bayside [Va.]) singled and moved to second on a wild pitch before Crosby walked. Coleman brought home Davis on a single to left field to tie the game at 4 before To had the hit to remember with a two-run single through the left side to score Crosby and Coleman for the go-ahead and decisive runs for a 6-4 lead. Faircloth and Wilcox then closed it out to secure the win and continue on of the best seasons in program history.