HAGERSTOWN, Md. – There must be some magic at Meritus Park, as the Hood College baseball team remains undefeated at the stadium with two wins against Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth rival Stevenson University, winning 4-1 and 9-8.
At the Plate
Rhett Robbins (Frederica, Del./Lake Forest) finished the day batting 4-7 with a walk, a double, and five RBIs.
Sean Seely (Bethpage, N.Y./Bethpage) went 2-4 with a walk in game two, also blasting a triple in the first game.
AJ Haines (Arlington, Va./Bishop O'Connell) finished the day's second game 2-5 with three RBIs.
On the Mound
Skylar Albright (Hendersonville, N.C./Hendersonville) picked up his first win of the season in game one, allowing just one run on four hits.
Liam Moriarty (Aldie, Va./Lightridge) took home the win in a wild game two, pitching a scoreless 1.1 innings and allowing just one hit.
From the Pen
Declan Musselman (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin) pitched two innings of shutout ball with just one hit to earn the save for game one.
Harrison Ludington (Woodbridge, Va/Forest Park) came in for the ninth inning in game two and closed it out to earn the save.
Hood 4, Stevenson 1
The Blazers were already in an odd situation, as the weather forcing the weekend's games to be delayed ended up causing them to be the away team despite playing in Hagerstown. The weirdness then continued into the first game, as
Kamari Chisolm (Gainesville, Va./Bishop O'Connell) was hit by a pitch after taking two for balls, then while the next batter grounded out, drew an obstruction call at third after running into the pitcher and was awarded home for the first run of the game
After that, it would not be until the fourth inning before either team would be able to score, with Seely leading the inning off with a triple before being brought in by a Robbins single. Chisolm was again able to use his speed to his advantage, with the first-year getting into a rundown after stealing second, avoiding a tag before sliding into third, and was then told by the third base coach there was no one covering home and sprinted the final 90 feet to make it a 3-0 game for Hood.
Stevenson saw the Blazers triple and decided to try that out for itself, with that runner bring brought in the very next at-bat, but Albright collected himself and got the final two outs needed to limit the damage.
There would be no more scoring until the top of the seventh when Hood added an insurance run for some extra breathing room, but Musselman struck out two of the last three batters he faced to end the game and give the Blazers a 4-1 win.
Hood 9, Stevenson 8
Neither team got anything going in the first inning, but Hood's offense showed up in the third, sending three runners across after a pair of doubles and some unforced errors by the Mustangs for an early lead.
Unlike the last game, Stevenson would not go down easily, as it responded the very next inning four runs of its own to leapfrog the Blazers by a run.
Not to be outdone, Hood again scored a trio of runs its very next at-bat, with the team hitting enough deep singles to keep the train moving and restore its lead at 6-4.
Unfortunately, the Mustangs managed to shut the Blazers down the next few innings while stringing together enough hits of their own to again take a one-run lead at 7-6 after seven innings.
Thankfully, the Hood bats woke up one final time in the top of the eighth to remind everyone that it likes to score in threes, with Seely, Robbins, and Chisolm again being the catalysts that ended up scoring for the Blazers and put them back on top 9-7.
Moriarty got himself into some trouble in the bottom of the eighth after allowing a baserunner to get to third with just one out, but he was able to induce back-to-back groundouts and get out of the jam. There would be no insurance run this time though, but despite Ludington causing a scare by allowing a run and then two runners on with one out, the sophomore got the next batter to hit into a double play to end the game and complete the sweep.
For the Opponent
Zach Mayza went 4-6 with two walks across both games, driving in three runs.
Shaun Rudick batted 2-3 with a walk, two doubles, and three RBIs in game two.
Notes
Hood improves to 6-9 (2-0), while Stevenson drops to 6-3 (0-2).
Up Next
The Blazers finish the weekend series on the road at Stevenson Sunday, March 15 at 3:30 p.m.
