Baseball: Knights Win Region XX, Set Eyes on NJCAA Northeast District
Baltimore County, MD -- On Sunday, May 13, CCBC Essex baseball defeated Frederick Community College 16-7 to capture its second NJCAA Region XX Division II Baseball Championship in three years and will now play Region XIX champion Mercer County in the Northeast District Championship for a trip to the NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series in Enid Okla.
Games one and two of the districts will be played at Harford Community College on Friday at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. The venue for game three (if needed) would revert back to Mercer County, should their field be able to hold this week's rain.
Road Through Regionals
The Knights entered the Region XX Division II Tournament as the No. 2 seed and received a first round bye. On Friday, May 11, they met host and sibling campus CCBC Catonsville in the first semifinal game of the weekend.
The Cardinals' Matt Shephard blasted a three-run homer in the first inning off Knights' starter Caleb Smith to give Catonsville an early 3-0 lead. Nathan Munyan added an RBI in the third to make if 4-0.
Essex tied the game with a four-run fifth inning and took the lead with one in the sixth. Max Tracey (2), Julio Creazzola and Nelson Laviosa (two-run homer) picked up the RBIs.
Catonsville came back to tie in the top of the eighth, but could not score in the ninth.
In the bottom of the inning, the Knights' walked it off when Sandy Paulino's sacrifice bunt attempt scored Luke Schaffer all the way from second after a Cardinals' error.
The next day, the Knights met Garrett College, who defeated Frederick 14-12 the day before.
This would not be an offensive outpour for either team, as the Knights won 4-3. While both teams' pitchers combined to give up 15 hits and 19 walks, they also combined to leave 45 runners on base.
Each team scored one in the first and it remained that way until the fifth.
After back-to-back one-out singles by Nolan Watson and Tracey in the bottom of the fifth, Creazzolla and Laviosa picked up RBIs to give the Knights a 3-1 lead.
The Knights added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Chase Ritter scored on a passed ball. It proved to be huge as a Lakers' leadoff walk scored to make it 4-3 Knights.
Ritter - who came on to pitch in the eighth - did not allow another run and the Knights prevailed.
On Championship Sunday, the Knights' bats did not disappoint, scoring 16 runs on 15 hits.
Mitch Fyffe, James Husar, Franco Velasquez and Rolando Heredia-Bustos were named to the NJCAA Region XX Divsion II All Tournament Team.
Fyffe was 7-for-14 in the three games, including 3-for-6 with three RBIs in the title game.
Husar only appeared in the championship game, but had arguably his best game of the year, going 3-for-5 with two doubles and five RBIs.
Velasquez was the starting and winning pitcher against Frederick, giving up seven earned on four hits, while striking out eight.
Heredia-Bustos picked up two wins in relief during the tournament. He did not allow an earned run in three appearances (seven innings), gave up just three hits, while striking out five and walking three.
The Knights batted .341 (15-44) against Frederick and had an RBI on all but one run.
Ritter was 3-for-5 with five RBI.
Schaffer and Jeff Acevado each went 2-for-4 and scored three runs.
NJCAA Northeast District Championship
The Knights will now play Mercer County in the district finals in a best-of-three series beginning Friday at the Harford Sports Complex. Game one first pitch is scheduled for 12 p.m.
The winner of the series moves on to the NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series in Enid, Okla, May 26-June 2.