Harford Baseball Blanks Southern Maryland, 11-0, in Game Two of Twinbill, Squanders 10-1 Lead in 11-10 Loss to Anne Arundel

From the HCC sports desk:

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford baseball team picked up one win last week with an 11-0, six-inning decision over the College of Southern Maryland in the second half of a doubleheader on Saturday at Harford Baseball Field. The Fighting Owls (11-10, 3-5 MDJUCO) fell to the Hawks (8-8, 6-7 MDJUCO), 9-7, in game one and were downed by Anne Arundel, 11-10, earlier in the week, on Tuesday.

The Owls held a 10-1 lead over the Pioneers (16-6, 5-2 MDJUCO) going into the bottom of the sixth, but gave up six runs in that inning and four more in the seventh as Anne Arundel pulled out the come-from-behind win.

Harford also met CCBC-Essex during the week, on Thursday, and managed to get 1.1 innings in before the contest was suspended due to rain. The Knights pelted the Harford defense with 10 runs on six hits and three Owl errors, before retiring Harford’s lineup in order in the bottom of the first. Harford saw two Essex batters in the top of the second, recording one out and allowing one runner to reach base on a hit by pitch before the game was called. The teams will resume play where they left off on Monday, April 27 at 4:00 p.m.

Freshman Kyle Otstot (Lewisberry, Pa./Redland) led Harford on its three-game week (not including the suspended contest) with a .500 average (6-for-12) with two runs, two doubles and six RBI, while freshman Joe Harbach (1-0) (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood) picked up the only win of the week for the Owls, after pitching a six-inning, complete-game shutout win on Saturday.

Harbach blanked Southern Maryland, 11-0, in game two of the weekend twinbill, allowing just six hits while fanning six batters in six innings of work.

Freshman Simon Beloff (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter/Old Dominion) also looked to be in line for the win earlier in the week as he gave up just three runs on five hits, while striking out five, in five innings against Anne Arundel, but seven Pioneer hits amounted to 10 runs in the sixth and seventh innings as Anne Arundel claimed the 11-10 win.

Freshman Mike Krider (State College, Pa./State College) added his second home run of the season in game one against Southern Maryland, with a solo shot to left center in the bottom of the fifth, which gave Harford a 5-4 lead.

The Hawks knotted the score at five with one run in the sixth and tacked on four more in the top of the seventh on the way to the 9-7 win over the Owls.

The Fighting Owls return to action on Tuesday, when they travel to Largo, Md. to face Prince George’s in a 3:00 p.m. conference matchup.