Harford Baseball Wins Second Straight, Edges Baltimore City, 8-7

From the HCC sports desk:

GLEN BURNIE, Md.—The Harford baseball team won its second straight and first conference game as it edged out Baltimore, 8-7 on Tuesday afternoon at Bachman Sports Complex in Glen Burnie.

The Fighting Owls (6-8, 1-3 MDJUCO) held a substantial, 8-4, lead over the Panthers going into the bottom of the eighth, but allowed three runs with two outs on the board and stranded two runners to finally get out the inning before both teams were held scoreless in the ninth.

Freshman Jordan Wlodarczyk (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) led the Owls on the day, going 4-for-5 with one run scored and a triple. The triple in the eighth would set Wlodarczyk up to score the eventual game-winning run as freshman Simon Beloff (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter/Old Dominion) singled with two outs to give Harford an 8-4 lead.

Freshman Kyle Rooker (1-0) (Coco Beach, Fla./Space Coast) earned the win after striking out seven and allowing just four runs on seven hits in 6.1 innings of work.

Gustavo Arcia led the Panthers, going 3-for-4 at the plate with one run scored, one RBI and a walk, while Juan Ramon was tabbed with the loss, allowing five runs on 11 hits and striking out three in six innings.

The starters shut down the opposing offense early, allowing for a combined six hits in the first three innings, and stranding six runners before Harford opened up scoring in the fourth on a RBI double by freshman Brendon Meyers (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin East) and sacrifice fly by freshman Cory Grossman (Dundalk, Md./Kenwood) to take a 2-0 lead.

The Panthers would cut that in half in the bottom of the inning as Rakeem Anthony added an RBI double and after a scoreless fifth, freshman Willie Barnola (Barquisimeto, Venezuela/UEC J.G. Bastidas) would tally an RBI single and freshman Joe Harbach (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood) would bat two runs in with a double to take a 5-1 advantage into the bottom of the sixth.

The Panthers would add two runs of their in the sixth, but Harford would equal that in the seventh on an RBI single by sophomore Ron Trout (Stewartstown, Pa./Kennard-Dale) and another sac fly by Grossman before Jowil Pena tacked on an RBI single for Baltimore to make the score, 7-4 going into the eighth.

Wlodarczyk and Beloff combined to score the last run for Harford before the Panthers threatened with a three-run, two-out rally to come within one, 8-7 before both teams were retired in order in the ninth to give Harford the 8-7 win.

The Fighting Owls return to action on Wednesday when they host Quinsigamond for a doubleheader at 2:00 p.m.

The Automated ScoreBook
Harford at Baltimore City
Mar 17, 2009 at Baltimore, Md. (Baltimore City CC)
Harford 8 (6-8,1-3)
Player AB R H BI
Barnola, William 2b 5 1 1 1
Harbach, Joe cf 5 0 2 2
Wlodarczyk, Jordan dh 5 1 4 0
Otstot, Kyle ss 5 0 1 0
Beloff, Simon lf 4 1 2 1
Schaeffer, Ryan pr/lf 0 0 0 0
Maxwell, Mike 1b 3 2 2 0
Krider, Mike ph/1b 1 0 0 0
Trout, Ron 3b 4 2 1 1
Meyers, Brendon c 4 1 2 1
Grossman, Corey rf 3 0 0 2
Rooker, Kyle p 0 0 0 0
Hicks, Dean p 0 0 0 0
Labe, Paul p 0 0 0 0
Totals…… 39 8 15 8
Baltimore City 7
Player AB R H BI
Broussard, Adam cf 4 0 2 2
Arcia, Gustavo 3b 4 1 3 1
Ramon, Juan p 3 2 2 0
Pena, Jowil 1b 2 0 1 1
De La Cruz, Emanuel 1b/lf 4 0 0 0
Anthony, Rakeem rf 5 0 1 2
Neris, Alvin ss 3 0 0 1
DeGennaro, Chris c 3 1 1 0
Gonzalez, Charles 2b 3 1 0 0
Gonzalez, C. lf 2 0 0 0
Castillo, Juan p 1 1 0 0
Petit p 1 1 1 0
Totals…… 35 7 11 7
Score by Innings R H E
——————————————-
Harford…………. 000 203 210 – 8 15 1
Baltimore City…… 000 102 130 – 7 11 0
——————————————-
E – Otstot(8). DP – Baltimore Ci 1. LOB – Harford 10; Baltimore Ci 8. 2B –
Barnola(1); Harbach(5); Meyers(1); Anthony. 3B – Wlodarczyk(1); Beloff(1). HBP –
Trout; Meyers; De La Cruz. SF – Grossman 2(2); Neris. SB – Gonzalez; Castillo.
Harford IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
Rooker, Kyle W,1-0 6.1 7 4 4 2 7 2 0 1 0 24 28 3 7
Hicks, Dean 0.2 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 0 0
Labe, Paul 2.0 3 3 3 2 3 0 1 0 0 9 11 1 2
Baltimore City IP H R ER BB SO WP BK HP IBB AB BF FO GO
Ramon, Juan L 6.0 11 5 5 1 3 0 0 1 0 28 31 10 5
Castillo, Juan 1.0 2 2 2 1 0 0 0 1 0 3 6 1 1
Petit 2.0 2 1 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 8 8 1 3
WP – Rooker 2(2). HBP – by Ramon (Trout); by Rooker (De La Cruz); by Castillo (Meyers).
BK – Labe(1).
Strikeouts – Barnola; Otstot 2; Beloff; Grossman; Broussard; De La Cruz 3; Anthony;
Neris 2; DeGennaro; Gonzalez 2; Gonzalez, C.. Walks – Beloff; Maxwell; Broussard;
Arcia; Neris; DeGennaro; Gonzalez.
Umpires –
Start: 3:00 pm Time: Attendance:
Game: GM14BALT