Hagerstown Baseball had been looking forward to these 4 games as they hadn't been able to play in over a week. Some games needed to be shuffled around a bit due to consistent rain in the forecast. But Mother Nature granted us permission to play this past weekend as there was a break in the steady precipitation. On the docket was CCBC Catonsville for the first doubleheader on Saturday April 12th, followed by a Prince George's CC twin bill on Sunday April 13th. The Hawks were looking to keep pace in the tight D2 Region 20 West as postseason play is rapidly approaching in just over 3 weeks.
Saturday against CCBC Catonsville started off with a bang as the Hawks won the first game by a score of 6-2. Sophomore southpaw, Peyton Castellow, threw yet another gem including 7 innings pitched, 4 hits allowed, 5 punch-outs, and only 1 earned run. He remains undefeated this year at 5-0 and doesn't look to be exhibiting any signs of slowing down. Getting it done at the plate for Hagerstown was sophomore right fielder, Aidan Grudzinski. Known as "Grud" to his teammates, Grudzinski was the catalyst for Hawks offense as he went 2-3 on the day with a triple and 2 RBIs which helped lift the Hawks to their first victory since March 29th.
In the second game against Catonsville, the Hawks were off to a great start winning 4-2 in the top of the 4th. That is when self-inflicted wounds began to bury them as they misread a ball hit to left field and proceeded to have 2 throwing errors to first base. That was enough for the Cardinals to take the lead and never look back as they scored 8 runs in the final 4 innings to win the game, 10-4. A silver lining in the game was freshman 2-hole hitter, Quinn Illig who remains red hot with a .450 batting AVG on the year which is good enough for 3rd in MDJUCO. Illig went 2-3 with an RBI and drew a walk to get on base a total of 3 times, but it unfortunately was not enough to overcome the mistakes by HCC in the end.
On Sunday, the Hawks were able to take advantage of a weaker PGCC team by winning both games by mercy rule, 18-8 and 16-1. The first game looked dicey when the Owls were up 4-0 after 2 innings, but the Hawks righted the ship thanks to steady pitching relief by sophomore lefty, Drew Lever. He pitched 3 innings, allowing on 2 hits, and added 5 Ks. While Lever was handling things on defense, it was freshman infielder Briggs Remenick who shined in the box. His stat line was 2-3 with a double and triple, scoring 3 runs, drawing 1 walk, and adding an RBI. Remenick has been a welcomed addition this spring after originally committing to Frederick CC out of high school. The Greencastle-Antrim HS alum is a true utility player and has afforded the Hawks with flexibility in their lineup.
In the final game of the weekend, it was over before it even got started as PGCC struggled to throw strikes. This allowed Hagerstown to remain patient at the plate and collect 16 walks on the day. That combined with 4 timely hits by a handful of Hawks was enough to put the game away early after 5 innings.
HCC's homestand continues to roll on this week as they face Allegany College of Maryland this Thursday, April 17th for a doubleheader beginning at 1PM. The Trojans will be hungry for revenge as they were swept by the Hawks earlier this season on March 2nd. Please consider coming out to show your support or tuning in to watch the livestream via FB live.
GO HAWKS!
#WelcometotheNest