OWINGS MILL, Md. – After being walked off 8-7 in game one against conference opponent Stevenson University, the Hood College baseball team made a dramatic seventh inning comeback to force extra innings, where they would come aware with a 13-8 victory in game two.
At the Plate
Ty Broughton (Charles Town, W.Va./Washington) finished game two batting 2-3 with two walks and two triples, scoring three times.
Cameron Day (Hagerstown, Md./Clear Spring) ended the afternoon batting 4-8 with a home run, two walks and five RBIs.
Matthew Stout (Coatesville, Pa./Coatesville) hit 3-4 with an RBI in game one.
In the second game,
Stephen Sommer (Leesburg, Va./Loudoun) went 2-5 at the dish, but drove in five runs and walked once.
On the Mound
Harrison Ludington (Woodbridge, Va/Forest Park High School) shut the door from the seventh inning and beyond in the second game, not allowing a hit while striking out four.
How it Happened - Stevenson 8, Hood 7/ Seven Innings
Stevenson got the scoring started in the second inning, as a hard-hit single drove the runners on second and third home to take an early 2-0 lead.
Hood tied the game up the very next inning though, as
Alex Jenkins (Ashburn, Va./Stone Bridge) was driven in to get the Blazers on the board before a deep double to center field allowed
Austin Rhue (Milton, Del./Cape Henlopen) to score from first. The very next inning would see Hood take its first lead of the day when back-to-back doubles scored runners on second base.
The Blazers extended their lead in the top of the fifth when a Day single pushed both runners on the corners across home plate, but the Mustangs got a run back in the bottom of the inning, then two more in the bottom of the sixth to cut Hood's lead to 6-5 heading into the final frame.
Despite the Blazers managing to tack on another run to gain some ground, Stevenson only recorded one out, a sacrifice bunt, en route to a three-run bottom half to hand Hood an 8-7 loss.
How it Happened – Hood 13, Stevenson 8/ Nine Innings
A
Keegan Brennan (Lake Wynonah, Pa./Nativity BVM) triple was capitalized on in the first inning as he was driven home by a sacrifice fly from Sommer to give the Blazers an early 1-0 lead, but the Mustangs answered with two runs of their own in the bottom of the inning to quickly retake
the lead.
Another triple, this time from Broughton, set up yet another sacrifice fly to tie the game for Hood in the third, but Stevenson again had an answer, driving three runners home in the bottom half of the inning before adding one run in the fourth and fifth innings to take a sizable 7-2 lead.
With both teams getting a run on the board in the sixth, it looked like the Mustangs would be able to cruise to a Saturday sweep, but the Blazers' offense, down to their final out, exploded to score five runs and tie the game up, needing to fend off a second walk-off in as many games to send the game to extras. Ludington did just that, putting down each batter in order, forcing high fly balls to Day over in right field to give the crowd some free baseball.
Hood picked up right where it left off in the ninth as Rhue singled
Jacob Saylor (Walkersville, Md./Walkersville) home to kick things off before they were given three free runs as the Mustangs could not find the zone, hitting Brennan to load the bases before walking the next three batters in a row. Jenkins singled to send one more runner home and bring Saylor back up to bat once again in the inning, and despite him and the next batter both getting out to end the inning, the damage had been done, and Ludington once again locked down
Stevenson's offense, striking out the final batter to complete the comeback and give the Blazers a 13-8 victory.
For the Opponent
Christopher Manco finished the doubleheader batting 4-7 with a home run, six RBIs, and two stolen bases, drawing two walks on top of that.
Graham Sears hit 5-10 with two doubles.
Up Next
The team goes up to Abington, Pennsylvania for a non-conference matchup against Penn State Abington Tuesday, March 19 at 3:30 p.m.
