Wlodarczyk Homers Twice as Harford Baseball Opens 2010 Season

From the HCC sports desk:

SHALLOTT, N.C.—Sophomore Woody Wlodarczyk (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) started the season off with a bang on Saturday as he homered in his first two trips to the plate as the Harford baseball team opened its 2010 season against Brunswick in North Myrtle Beach, S.C. The Fighting Owls (3-1) played a two-day, four-game series against the Dolphins (2-4), sweeping Saturday’s doubleheader, 6-4 and 2-0, and splitting Sunday’s games with a 5-4 setback in game one and a 4-2 victory in game two.

Wlodarczyk batted in five of the Owls’ six runs in game one on Saturday after notching a lead-off solo homer in the top of the second and tallying a grand slam in the third. He finished with a .500 (6-12) average, two homers, and six RBI for the weekend to lead Harford.

Freshman Brock Krumanocker (1-0) (Kutztown, Pa./Kutztown) picked up the win on the mound in game one, pitching two scoreless innings in relief, while allowing just one hit and striking out one batter, while sophomore Jordan Heller (Loch Raven, Md./Loch Raven/Chesapeake) picked up the save after one scoreless, hitless inning with one strikeout.

Game two saw hits from six different players, but no RBI as freshman Alex Riley (Newark, Del./A.I. Dupont/Wesley) stole home and Harbach scored on a wild pitch in the second inning. Sophomore Bo Loar (1-0) (Fallston, Md./Fallston) pitched four solid innings, allowing just one hit and striking out one batter to earn the game win, while freshman Aaron Jones (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Mechanicsburg) threw a scoreless, hitless inning to nab the save.

Wlodarczyk and Riley led the Owls in Sunday’s game one, with Wlodarczyk going 3-for-4 with an RBI and Riley going 1-for-2 with three RBI thanks to a three-run bomb in the second. The game was tied at four going into the seventh inning and the Harford lineup was retired in order to give Brunswick its last chance at the plate.

Sophomore Joe Harbach (0-1) (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood) ended up taking the hard-luck loss after a two-out single by John Faircloth advanced Johnny Cannon to third and an Owl throwing error allowed Cannon to score on the play to give the Dolphins the 5-4 walk-off win.
Game two on Sunday saw the Harford bats nearly silent, as the Owls recorded just three hits. Sophomore Mike Krider (State College, Pa./State College) started the scoring off with a two-RBI single in the first and Riley added the go-ahead run in the second with an RBI single and also scored on a passed ball in the fifth. Freshman Corey Taylor (1-0) (Fallston, Md./Fallston) picked up the win on the mound after letting in just one run on four hits and striking out one in four innings. Heller earned his second save of the weekend after pitching one inning and letting up one run on one hit and striking out one batter.

Ryne Poplin led the Dolphins on the weekend after going 4-for-9 with two runs and a double in three games, while Ben Morris (1-0) earned Sunday’s game one win with no runs or hits in one inning in relief.

The Fighting Owls return to action this weekend as they play the 2010 doubleheader home-opener against Mercer on Saturday at Harford Baseball Field.