Owls Escape With A Split At Westmoreland, Force Game Three In Region XX Tournament

The first divisional meeting of the year for both Prince George's Community College and Westmoreland County Community College proved to be an even matchup as a single run was the deciding factor in both games of Tuesday's doubleheader in Youngwood, Pennsylvania. Although no official Division III Region XX Tournament is being held this year, the winner of the best-of-three series between Prince George's and Westmoreland advances to the Mid-Atlantic District Championship and as such, requires a 9-inning format for all games played.

Nine full innings still wasn't enough as the Wolfpack came from behind 2-0 to steal game one from the Owls, 3-2, after a walk-off single by Westmoreland in the 10^th inning. Starting pitcher Logan Marx (Palm Beach, FL) threw for just over six innings for the Owls, collecting eight K's before being replaced by Grayson Lewis midway through the sixth inning with the bases loaded. Lewis was able to get the Owls off the field with no further damage as he quickly threw for a strikeout before Jacob Willis made the final out at second base to head into the 8^th all tied up, 2-2.

The Owls weren't able to get anything going at the plate as they proceeded to go three up, three down for the next three innings before finding themselves in trouble in the bottom of the 10^th. With two outs and the bases loaded, the Wolfpack's Nick Fuentes delivered a base hit over second baseman Aderlyn Cubilete's head to drive in the winning run for Westmoreland and cap off the 3-2 comeback victory. Sophomores Zachary Hurley and Jacob Willis both finished 2-for-4 at the plate for the Owls, with Willis collecting an RBI along the way.

The loss set up an elimination game for Prince George's as they regrouped for game two.

Freshman Patrick Hely (Lake Placid, FL) was given the start at the mound for game two as he pitched five scoreless innings before being replaced by sophomore Peyton Harmon in the bottom of the sixth. By then the Owls had built up a 3-0 lead with a Trey Newland RBI single in the third followed by two more runs in the fourth from a Cristian Desrosiers RBI and a later Lewis RBI single as well. Hely finished the day with five strikeouts and zero earned runs as he exited with his Owls leading, 3-1. Westmoreland would score one more in the bottom of the sixth to make it 3-2.

Both teams stalled down the stretch, producing no real threat on the bases before Westmoreland was put into scoring position at the top of the ninth inning. Harmon (Palm Beach, FL), who is the teams starting catcher and second-year captain, was able to shut down the Wolfpack's attack as he proceeded to strike out Westmoreland's Noah Sweeney for the second out before Wynston Dyer collected a fly-out to left field to finish off game two. Westmoreland moved to 7-25 overall on the year after the twinbill while the Owls moved to 9-11.

The split sets up a single 9-inning game back in Youngwood, Pennsylvania for this Saturday, May 15^th to determine a NJCAA Division III Region XX Champion. The winner of Saturday will travel to Wentworth, NC to take on Rockingham Community College on May 21^st – 22^nd for the Mid-Atlantic District Championship with a bid to the World Series on the line.