Potomac State wins Region 20 Tourney opener
KEYSER, W.V., May 5, 2023 – The first game of the Region 20 Championship tournament at WVU Potomac State College's Golden Park saw the Catamounts pick up a 3-2 victory over the Monroe College Mustangs baseball team on Friday. The win advances Potomac State into the Winner's Bracket of the tournament, while the Mustangs will now face elimination and need to advance through the Loser's Bracket on Saturday.
The Catamounts put runners on first and third with nobody out in the top of the fourth. Jimmy Sadler was hit with a pitch to open the frame. He advanced to third on a pair of wild pitches. After a walk to Nik Rubendall, Morgan Little brought in a run with a single to put Potomac State up, 1-0, but starter Andrelys Payamps managed to limit the damage from there.
The Mustangs tied things up in the bottom of the fifth. With one out, Matthew Franco blasted his first home run of the season down the right-field line to knot the game up at 1-1.
The Catamounts struck again in the seventh. With one out, Zach Brennan was hit with a pitch. Chance Satcho was intentionally walked, and the Brady Whitacre worked a walk to load the bases. Brennan then came home on Cam Cole's sacrifice fly to left, putting Potomac State back up, 2-1. Dakota Miller followed with an RBI double to make it a 3-1 ballgame.
Monroe did their best to work their way back in the bottom of the ninth. With one out, Ronald Almanzar launched a solo homer to right-center to make it a one-run game. Franco followed with a double. Jordy Batista walked in a pinch-hit opportunity with two outs, but the Mustangs were unable to bring another run across, falling to the Catamounts, 3-2.
Alexander Meckley went seven innings, allowing just one run on three hits to pick up the win for the Catamounts and improve to 2-2 on the season. The sophomore struck out seven Mustang hitters.
Diego Barrett came on with one out in the ninth and held a one-run lead for Potomac State to earn his fourth save. Payamps went 6.1 frames for Monroe, yielding three runs on two hits while striking out 10 to fall to 6-4 on the year. Samuel Herrera tossed a scoreless 2.2 innings in relief.
For Monroe, Franco finished 2-for-3 with a solo homer and a double in the game. Almanzar batted 1-for-4 with a solo home run of his own. Yosmil Diaz went 1-for-3 on Friday. Castro finished 1-for-4.
Monroe will now take on Hagerstown Community College, which lost Friday's other First Round matchup against Harford Community College, in the tournament's first elimination game on Saturday, May 6. Tomorrow's game is set for a 10 a.m. first pitch. The winner of that game will move on to play again at 4 p.m. against the loser of Potomac State and Harford, while the loser will be eliminated.