Cougars Sweep Knights to Clinch a First-Round Bye in Regional Tournament

In Coach Bennett's 749th & 750th career victories, Frederick CC Cougars baseball swept the CCBC Essex Knights 10-8 and 6-1. With the win, the Cougars clinched a first-round postseason bye to secure their spot in the Semi-Finals of the NJCAA DII Region 20 Baseball Tournament at Cecil College on May 12-14.

Game 1

After CCBC-Essex Knights brought in five runs in the second inning, Frederick would answer back with one run in the bottom half of the second. However, the FCC Cougars stole the lead with an eight-run fifth inning and fended off a comeback to defeat CCBC Essex 10-8 on Saturday in the first game of a doubleheader.

Jake Holler hit a two-run home run to start things off, followed by a bases-loaded single from Aidan Masters that drove in two runs. The next batter, Aidan Greaney, doubled to clear the bases, and then Josh Wilson doubled to bring in Greaney, and Brendan Kleiman singled to score Wilson. 

Dakota Smith picked up his sixth win on the hump throwing five innings and allowing seven earned runs on seven hits with six strikeouts. Bryce Greene would pick up his seventh save on the season, tied for seventh most in the country, throwing two innings and allowing three hits, with one earned run and two strikeouts. FCC Cougars were solid in the field and didn't commit a single error.

Frederick totaled 11 hits in the game to Essex's 10.  Holler, Brendan Kleiman, and Cam Jones each recorded two hits for the Cougars to lead FCC Cougars offensively.   

Game 2

The Cougars outscored CCBC-Essex 6-1 to take the victory in the second game of the doubleheader. CCBC Essex got on the board in the first inning, but that would be their only run in the game as Chris Durkin picked up his eighth win on the season to improve to 8-0, pitching five and two-thirds innings with nine strikeouts while allowing one earned run on five hits and only three batters walked. Jason Boak would come in to pitch two innings and pick up the save with only one hit and two strikeouts. 

It didn't take long for the FCC Cougars to even things up in the bottom of the first inning when Nick Keane scored a run when Aidan Masters singled.

FCC Cougars took the lead for good with a four-run fourth inning led by Joshua Wilson with a solo homer, a Brendan Kleiman single, and doubles by Jake Holler and Cam Jones. In the sixth inning, FCC put another run on the board with another double by Holler and a single by Brevin Neveker.  

FCC Cougars tallied 11 hits in game two and would be error-free defensively to complete the sweep of the CCBC Essex Knights.

Next up:
Thursday, 5/04 DH starting at 2:00 PM at Anne Arundel Community College
Saturday, 5/06 DH starting at 1:00 PM at CCBC Catonsville
Friday, 5/12 NJCAA DII Region 20 Semi-Final vs. TBA at Cecil College
Saturday, 5/13 NJCAA DII Region 20 Semi-Final vs. TBA at Cecil College
Sunday, 5/14 NJCAA DII Region 20 Championship vs. TBA at Cecil College