Prince George's Baseball Season Ends With 6-4 Loss To Delta At NJCAA Division III World Series

Prince George's Baseball Season Ends With 6-4 Loss To Delta At NJCAA Division III World Series

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. – Prince George's Community College's sensational season comes to an end after Delta College downs the Owls 6-4 in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Division III Baseball World Series elimination game on Saturday.

Brandon Crosby (Richmond, Va./Atlee, Mechanicsville) posted two hits and a run scored for Prince George's (33-15-1) while Jared Davis (Largo, Md./Bayside [Va.]) recorded a hit and two runs scored. Bay To (Philadelphia, Pa./Neumann) added two RBIs and a base hit, and Austin Adams (Fayetteville, Ga./Whitewater) tallied a hit, a run scored and an RBI in the loss.

The Owls posted one its best seasons in program history after advancing to the World Series for the second time under head coach Buddy Foster. The squad won the NJCAA Division III Region XX Tournament title for the second time under Foster and fourth time in team history and then claimed a spot in the World Series after winning the District D Championship. The Largo team registered 30 wins this season and was ranked in the NJCAA Division III Baseball Rankings in six of the last seven weeks a poll was conducted.

Ty Robbins paced the Pioneers (35-22) with a 4-for-5 performance with two RBIs and a run scored. Tyler Snover registered three hits, two runs scored and an RBI while Mitch Morley notched two RBIs and a run scored to advance stay alive in the tournament.

Delta scored six unanswered runs in the middle innings and held a Prince George's rally attempt to earn the win and end the Owls magical season.

After Prince George's grabbed a 2-0 lead in the third, the Pioneers answered with two in the fourth, three in the fifth and one in the seventh.

Morley tied the game at 2 with a two-run bloop single to center field in the fourth. Delta then took the lead for good with a three-run fifth for a 5-2 advantage. Snover hit an RBI single to center, Ty Jones plated a run on a sacrifice fly and Robbins capped the three-run rally with an RBI single to center. Robbins then added an RBI single in the seventh for a 6-2 lead.

Prince George's answered with a run in the seventh to trim the margin to three runs. Crosby reached on an error, moved to second on a wild pitch and then touched home on To's opposite field RBI double to cut the deficit to 6-3.

A run in the eighth made it a two-run game. Davis hit the right-center gap and scored on Adams' RBI groundout. Crosby singled with two outs to right center to get the tying run to the plate, but a strikeout ended the threat.

In the ninth, a leadoff walk was erased by a double play and a groundout ended the game.

The Owls also missed some scoring chances in the game. In the fourth, Harold Marte (Haymarket, Va./Battlefield) walked and moved to third on a failed pickoff attempt with two outs and Naquan Holden (Brooklyn, N.Y./Perkiomen) walked and stole second, but a strikeout ended the inning.

In the sixth, Dakota McFadden (Largo, Md,./Heide Trask [N.C.]) singled up the middle, Bryan Waltemath (Bowie, Md./American [Fla.]) singled to right with one out and Holden was hit by a pitch before a strikeout and groundout got Delta out of the jam.

Prince George's got the scoring started in the game with two runs in the third. Davis walked and moved to second on a passed ball. After Adams walked, Crosby hit a slow-rolling grounder and beat it out for a base hit while the Pioneers tried to make play on Davis at third to allow him to score on the error. To plated Adams on a sacrifice fly to give the Owls a 2-0 lead. Delta then scored six-straight runs and earned the victory.

Michael Hovermill, Jr. (Poughkeepsie, N.Y./Spackenkill), who picked the NJCAA Region XX Tournament and NJCAA District D Championship clinching victories on three-days rest, took his first loss the of the season after allowing six runs (five earned) on 13 hits with three walks and six strikeouts.