ARNOLD, Md. – The Anne Arundel Community College baseball team is advancing to the NJCAA Region 20 Division 2 Championships double elimination round for the second season in a row after a 6-4 win over Garrett College Tuesday at Skip Brown Field. The fourth-seeded Riverhawks will face top seed and host Frederick Community College at 3 p.m. Saturday in Frederick, Md.
AACC got a boost from the bottom half of the lineup, which accounted for eight of the Riverhawk's 10 hits and all five RBI. Griffin Klein drove in three runs on a 2-for-3 day at the plate.
The eighth-seeded Lakers, who knocked off fifth seed Chesapeake, 12-2, earlier in the day, made a statement early in the game with a two-out solo home run by Colby Schmitz in the first inning.
AACC responded in the bottom of the third when Agustin Murillo doubled to left center, scoring Sebastian Casanova, then came around to score himself on a pair of Lakers throwing errors.
After a 1-2-3 fourth for the Lakers, AACC edged ahead, 3-1, on a two-out RBI single from Klein that scored Russell Turner, who had reached base via walk and moved ahead two bases on a Donny White single to center.
With one out and runners on second and third in the top of the fifth, Angel Oquendo drove in a pair of runs for the Lakers with a single through the left side. Oquendo later made it to second on a passed ball and stole third on a strikeout, but Riverhawks pitcher Nicco Holland induced an infield groundout to keep the game tied, 3-3.
AACC took the lead for good in the sixth with three runs. Holland drew a walk before Alejandro Casanova and Turner hit back-to-back singles to load the bases with one out, chasing out Lakers' starter Ethan Sebold. White then placed a single through the right side to score the first run, then and Klein sent two more across with a single up the middle.
Garrett's leadoff hitter reached via a two-base error in the seventh and went to third on a foul out, setting up the Lakers' final run on an infield groundout. Trailing, 6-4, Garrett then got two more runners on, but a fly out to a sprinting Chris Ricks in center ended the inning.
Riverhawks' reliever Caden Houck earned the win with one hit and one strikeout in his brief appearance. Sam Ross picked up his region-leading ninth save with one run on two hits with one strikeout. Holland struck out four and walked one in five innings, allowing three runs on eight hits.
AACC is guaranteed to play in the Region 20 tournament on Friday and Saturday. A win against the top-seeded Cougars Friday would have the Riverhawks playing again at 1 p.m. Saturday; a loss send the Riverhawks to the losers' bracket with a 10 a.m. game Saturday.
All tournament games will be live streamed at https://www.youtube.com/@FrederickCC_Cougars/streams. Admission to all tournament games at Frederick is free.