BEL AIR, MD.-In a No. 2 vs. No. 3 matchup to open the three-team, double-elimination Region 20 Championship on Friday at Harford Community College, the second-seeded Monroe College Mustangs baseball team defeated No. 3 WVU Potomac State College, 9-8, to advance to the winner's side of the tournament.
Potomac State was later defeated and eliminated by Harford in game two 12-2.
Friday's opener was a battle from the jump. Potomac State's first two batters of the game did not reach base, but a double by Nik Rubendall kept the inning going for the Catamounts. Maddox Brooks then hit an RBI double to get the Catamounts on the board, and then came home himself on an RBI single by Jimmy Sadler for a 2-0 lead.
The Mustangs bounced right back in the bottom of the first. Eli Gries-Smith walked with one out, and then Pedro Vasquez reached on an error with two down to get a second runner on. After a wild pitch moved both runners up, Anthony Fernandez hit a two-RBI single to right-center, tying the game at 2-2. Jose Fernandez followed with a double, bringing home Anthony Fernandez to put the Mustangs up, 3-2.
The back-and-forth continued in the top of the second. A pair of singles followed by a ground out had runners on second and third for the Catamounts. Cam Cole then singled to right to bring in a run and tie the game at 3-3. With two outs and runners on the corners, Rubendall hit a single into right, bringing in another run to put Potomac State back up, 4-3.
The game flipped again in the bottom of the fourth. Anthony Fernandez led off the inning with a solo homer to center to tie the game at 4-4. Jose Fernandez followed with a single to left, and then Jeremy De La Mota walked. A sacrifice attempt by Gilbert Gomez then resulted in all three runners being safe, loading the bases with nobody out. With two outs and the bases still loaded, Gries-Smith provided a game-changing hit with a bases-clearing double to center, leaving the Mustangs on top, 7-4.
Monroe had runners on first and second in the fifth when Gomez came up to bat. He singled to center to bring Anthony Fernandez home from second, pushing the lead to 8-4.
Gomez helped the lead grow in the bottom of the seventh. With the bases loaded and one out, Gomez flew out to center, bringing Vasquez home from third to make it a 9-4 score in favor of the Mustangs.
The Catamounts nearly erased the deficit in the top of the eighth. Chris Harbert led off the inning with a solo homer to center, making it a four-run game. With the bases loaded later in the frame, Brooks hit a two-RBI single into left, dropping Monroe's lead to 9-7. Sadler then grounded out to first to bring in one more run, but the Mustangs escaped from there with a 9-8 lead.
After taking over in the eighth, Samuel Herrera shut things down in the top of the ninth. He retired the Catamounts in order to close things out and help the Mustangs advance with a one-run victory.
Sammuel Urena earned the win in relief for the Mustangs after going 5.2 innings in relief without allowing a run, improving his record to 5-1. Herrera then earned his fourth save of the season in two innings of work. Potomac State's Caden Goodwin took the loss to fall to 6-3.
Anthony Fernandez hit 2-for-2 with three RBIs, three runs and a home run in the win. Gries-Smith knocked in three runs with a double and scored a run himself in a 1-for-4 effort. Gomez went 1-for-2 with two RBIs and a run. Jose Fernandez batted 2-for-3 with an RBI and a double. Vasquez scored twice in a 1-for-4 effort.
In game two, Harford delivered on clutch hits to over-power the Catamounts.
In the bottom of the first, Jesse Jaconski doubled to score Ruben Livingston and Joey Pagano to give the Fighting Owls an early 2-0 lead.
Gage Bibey homered for Potomac State in the second cutting the lead to 2-1.
HCC added three in the third inning highlighted by a two-run home run from Livingston.
A Bryce Suters sacrifice fly in the top of the fourth cut the lead to 5-2.
An Alec Welshans home run in the fifth proved to be the knock-out blow as Harford pushed the lead to 8-2.
From there Harford added four runs in the sixth to end the game via the run-rule.
Joe Rauscher picked up the win for Harford, going the distance , striking out five ana allowing eight hits.