GERMANTOWN, MD. – The sixth seed Anne Arundel Community College baseball team defeated the seventh seed College of Southern Maryland and the third seed Montgomery College Tuesday afternoon to advance to the double-elimination round of the NJCAA Region 20 Division II Baseball Tournament for the first time since 2017. AACC held on for a 7-6 win over the Hawks before dealing the host Raptors a 7-2 defeat.
AACC (25-30) will face the number two seed CCBC Catonsville at noon on Friday, May 12, at host Cecil College in North East, Md. The winner will face the winner of fifth seed CCBC Essex and top seed Frederick at 10 am Saturday, May 13. The losers of both Friday games will play at 1 p.m. Saturday in the double-elimination tournament.
Against Southern Maryland, AACC jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first on a bases-loaded walk and a three-run double from Christian Murphy. Dyllon Barrett scored all the way from first on an Alejandro Casanova single to center in the third to make it 5-0 AACC.
CSM plated one in the fourth with heads up base running on a dropped third strike, and took a one-run lead with a four run, two-out rally in the eighth. The Hawks had five-straight hits – including four for extra bases – in the spree before Riverhawks ace Jacob McDonald settled to induce a short ground out.
The winning runs came across with two outs in the bottom of the inning. Murphy and Will Burchick led off the inning with back-to-back singles and after two strikeouts, both advanced to scoring position courtesy of a wild pitch. An infield misplay on a sharp knock by John Greenawalt saw both runners come across to retake the lead, 7-6.
Zach Ford came in in the ninth, allowing a hit to the first batter before getting three consecutive outs, including a swinging strikeout to end the game and pick up his fourth save of the season. McDonald struck out six while allowing six runs on 10 hits through eight innings to earn the win.
In game two, AACC built up a 7-0 lead through seven before allowing single runs in the seventh and ninth to the Raptors.
The Riverhawks' first two runs scored with two outs in the first when Casanova reached via infield error. Greenawalt led off the third with a walk, moved ahead on a sacrifice bunt by Barrett, and advanced to third on a passed ball to score on a Sam D'Amelio groundout.
An Ethan Grieb double in the fourth plated two more before Barrett moved Grieb across the plate with a sac fly for a 6-0 lead. In the seventh, Murphy drove in his fourth run of the day with a single to right.
In the bottom of the inning, Grieb moved from third base to pitcher, getting back-to-back strikeouts before allowing the Raptors to score on a wild pitch. The Raptors plated one more in the ninth on an RBI single.
Riverhawks starter Kyle Wortz went two innings, allowing two hits while striking out two. Ford retired the first nine batters he faced before allowing one run on two hits to earn the win. Grieb picked up his second save of the season with three innings of work in which he struck out five while allowing one run on three hits.
AACC has posted a remarkable turnaround from a year ago, and has won the most games in over a decade. The Riverhawks advance to the double-elimination portion of the NJCAA Region 20 Tournament for the first time under third-year head coach Nick Hoffner.