Baseball: Knights Down Riverhawks, Clinch No. 5 Seed in Regional Tournament

By Rocco Geppi and Dominic Teoli

Rosedale, Md. -- CCBC Essex yesterday gutted out a walk-off win over Anne Arundel to clinch the No. 5 seed in the Region XX Division II Baseball Tournament, simultaneously knocking the Riverhawks out of postseason contention. 

"We are super excited to be able to play a home playoff game," said head coach Sean O'Connor. "It was exciting how well we played the last half of the year. It should help give us confidence for hopefully a deep playoff run."

Nomar Torres-Guzman (Reading, Pa.) scored the Knights winning run on a passed ball with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. 

Torres-Guzman had entered the game as a pinch runner after Nick Hemstreet (Leesburg, Va.) walked with one out. Torres-Guzman stole second and reached third on Luis Gonzalez's (Parkville, Md.) ground out to second.

The Knights (17-18, 10-10 Region XX Division II) struck first with one in the first and one in the second. 

Essex starting pitcher Todd Murphy (Beltsville, Md.) cruised through the first two frames, allowing no runs, one hit and struck out two. 

Anne Arundel got on the board and tied the game in the third on a two-run double. 

Neither team scored in the fourth and fifth innings.

The Riverhawks took a 3-2 lead in the sixth.

With runners at the corners, Anne Arundel's trailing runner got in a rundown after a pickoff attempt, and the runner from third scored. 

Essex tied the game at three in their half of the seventh inning.

Sammy Canela singled to lead off the inning and stole second. He then stole third with one out.

Canela is 18-for-18 in stolen base attempts this season. Only seven others in the country have more stolen bases without yet being caught. 

After Gonzalez walked, JJ Erazo (Port Richey, Fla.) laid down a well placed bunt to score Canela.

Murphy pitched a perfect eighth inning to keep the game tied. His final line: two earned runs on seven hits, six strikeouts and just one walk. 

Danny Padilla (Virginia Beach, Va.) pitched a 1-2-3 ninth in relief of Murphy. 

The Knights half of the inning began with a Canela flyout to right. 

Hemstreet walked, Torres-Guzman pinch ran and stole two bases, and then scored the winning run two pitches later. 

Padilla picked up the win and is now 4-1 this season.

The win secures the No. 5 seed for the Knights in the regional tournament.

They will host the No. 8 seed Montgomery College this Saturday, with first pitch scheduled for 1 p.m.

Road to the Tourney

The Knights enter the postseason having gone 9-3 down the stretch, including two four-game winning streaks. 

Prior to dropping a double header to Frederick last weekend, the Knights took a pair of twin bills from Montgomery and CCBC Dundalk. 

On April 23, the Knights hit on all cylinders against the Raptors, as they began with a 7-1 win in game one.

Jeff Young (Rosedale, Md.) pitched a complete game and only allowed the Raptors five hits, while striking out 12.

Canela carried the load offensively, driving in three runs, while Austin Mumaw (Baltimore, Md.), Haywood and Jinjika picked up an RBI each.

Rolando Heredia-Bustos (Atlanta, Ga.) pitched arguable his best game of the season in game two.

He allowed just one hit over seven complete innings and struck out 12.

The Knights offense put 11 runs on the board.

Cam Powers (Weymouth, Mass.), Devin Johnson (Charlotte, N.C.) and Alvin Carela (Baltimore, Md.) each had a pair of RBI.

Canela, Gonzalez, Erazo and Leasure each had an RBI of their own to ensure the win.

On April 25, the Knights hit the road for a short trip to CCBC Dundalk. 

The Knights showed their versatility as stellar defense was needed in game one and electric bats were needed in game two.

Essex's defense was on full display as they escaped with the 1-0 win in game one.

Murphy started and went the distance of seven innings and allowed just three hits.

The lone run was scored in the second inning on a Maldonado RBI single that scored Johnson.

Game two saw the bats come alive for both teams, as the two sides combined for 16 runs.

The Lions jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning behind a wild pitch and a RBI single.

Essex fought back in the second and third innings, scoring five runs with Canela and Jordan Daddio (Midlothian, Va.) both stealing home to increase the Knights lead to 5-2.

The Knights did not hold the lead for long as the Lions managed to score five runs of their own over the third and fourth.

Dundalk's lead did not last long, as they committed two errors in the sixth inning, leading to two runs for the Knights to tie the game.

Carela was 1-for-3 and that one hit was the most important, as it was a two-RBI single that drove in Jinjika and Daddio to give Essex and 9-7 lead and the eventual win.

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