Baseball Season Ends In Heartbreaking Fashion

FREDERICK, Md. – This is why we love sports! The hard work and dedication student-athletes and coaches put in throughout the year and an entire season comes down to one day! Tough to put into words the emotions of both highs and lows in the two games played today to decide the winner of the Region XX D2 baseball tournament championship. An entire season can ride on one pitch, one play or one at-bat. Fans were treated to one heck of a doubleheader today!

Sunny skies and 75 degree weather matched-up the No. 1 seed FCC Cougars against the No. 2 seed CCBC Catonsville Cardinals. FCC entered the double elimination tourney with one loss while the Cardinals were undefeated. The Cougars would need to win game one to force another game to determine the Region XX D2 baseball champion. FCC would deliver in the clutch in the high-scoring affair by the score of 10-8 and that set the stage for one more nine inning game of a tourney filled with close games throughout.

FCC fell behind 2-0 early, but would battle back to take a 4-3 lead in the contest.  The Cardinals added a run to tie the game at 4.  A two-run homer by Cardinals' first baseman Jordan Sanders broke the tie in the bottom of the 8^th making the score 6-4. The Cards would add one more run as Avery Rosania would hit a solo shot increasing the lead to three. The Cougars would not go away quietly. FCC loaded the bases and pushed across two runs in the bottom of the 9th, but would come up just short leaving the bags packed on the final out of the game.

Game 1: FCC 10, CCBC Catonsville 8, Inside The Box

FCC belted out 14 hits in the victory! Brady Harju (2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI), Maciah Thomas (2-for-4, 2 RBI), Ryan Capstick (2-for-4) Nick Fuhrmann (2-for-4), and Brayden Lackey (2-for-4, 2 RBI) each had two hits each. Jett Manning smoked his third homer on the year late in the game to seal the victory for FCC.

Marco Cardone came in relief to earn the victory while Teagan Staver delivered once again in the clutch to pick up his third save on the season.

Game 2: CCBC Catonsville 7, FCC 6, Inside The Box

The Cougar offense pounded out nine hits led Brady Harju (2-for-4, 3 RBI) and Maciah Thomas (2-for-5, RBI) each with two hits. Jett Manning and Brayden Lackey each doubled. Manning also swiped his 33^rd stolen base of the season.

Northeast District Tournament Update

CCBC Catonsville will host Mercer County Community College on Friday for the Northeast District Tournament. The winner of the three game series will earn a trip to the NJCAA D2 World Series held in Enid, Oklahoma.

Region XX D2 All-Tourney Team: Brian Rourke (P), Jett Manning (SS), Brady Harju (3B)

Notables

• Six of seven game in Region XX D2 TOurney were decided by two games or less
  Jett Manning breaks single-season stolen base record with 33 swipes
• Brian Rourke ties single-season record for most wins (pitching) with 10
• Freshman Brady Harju belted six homers and batted .342 while knocking 56 RBI during his freshman campaign. Harju tallied 53 hits.
• Jett Manning: 68 H, .430 BA, .542 OBP, 23 2B, 5 3B, 33 SB
• Brian Rourke: 10-1, 1.80 ERA, 97 Ks, 70 IP
• Colby Rudis: 7-2, 2.50 ERA, 77 Ks
• Maciah Thomas: 61 H, .326 BA,
• CJ Mackinson: .434, .535 OBP
• Overall record this season 39-16 including 21-7 at home
• Sophomore class went 76-36 over past two seasons