HCC Sport Round-Up: Baseball Win, High-Scoring Lacrosse Victories and Defeats

From the HCC sports desk:

Six-Run Fourth Inning Gives Harford Baseball 11-1 Win Over Quinsigamond

BEL AIR, Md.—A six-run fourth inning gave the Harford baseball team the 10-run differential it needed to down visiting Quinsigamond, 11-1 (7 inn.), on Monday night at Harford Baseball Field. The game between the Fighting Owls (7-4) and the Wyverns (0-1) was a last-minute pick-up, after Quinsigamond’s originally scheduled game at CCBC-Essex was postponed due to unplayable field conditions.

Harford Baseball Field needed some work prior to the first pitch, but was in good enough condition to endure Monday’s game, which saw the teams brave moderate to heavy rains and cold, windy conditions in order to play.

Harford took an early lead in the first as sophomore Woody Wlodarczyk (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) hit a fielder’s choice down the third-base line with freshman Alex Riley (Newark, Del./A.I. Dupont/Wesley) on third. Riley bolted for the plate and was originally ruled out, but the call was changed after an umpire’s conference decided that the Quinsigamond catcher lost control of the ball during the collision with Riley.

Riley led Harford on the day, going 4-for-5 with two runs scored, two stolen bases and an RBI, while Wlodarczyk tallied a three-run homer in the fourth and went 1-for-3 with one run and four RBI.

Wlodarczyk’s home run gave the Owls an 8-1 lead in the fourth after Harford added one run in the second, three runs in the third and the Wyverns tallied their only run in the top of the fourth.

Harford added three more runs before the fourth inning was completed (all with two outs) and held Quinisigamond to just two hits over the next three innings on the way to the 11-1, 10-run, win.

Pat Gilman was the only Wyvern to record multiple hits, going 2-for-3 on the day, while Mike Bonner (0-1) was tabbed with the loss after giving up eight runs (four earned) on nine hits and striking out three in three innings.

Freshman Jordan Lozzi (Fallston, Md./Fallston) (1-0) picked up the first win of his career with a solid three-inning outing, in which he gave up just one hit and struck out one while holding Quinsigamond scoreless.

The Fighting Owls continue a four-day, four-game playing streak on Tuesday when they host Anne Arundel at 3:30 p.m. before meeting Quinsigamond again on Wednesday and wrapping up the span at CCBC-Essex on Thursday.

Harford Men’s Lacrosse Gives Up Five Man-Up Goals, Falls to Brookdale, 10-8

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford men’s lacrosse team was whistled for 12 penalties and visiting Brookdale converted on five of its eight extra-man opportunities as Harford fell, 10-8, to the Jersey Blues on Sunday afternoon at Harford Stadium.

The Fighting Owls (3-1) suffered their first loss of the season, while the Jersey Blues (3-2) bounced back from an 11-8 loss to Army Prep on Wednesday.

Freshman Tom Masters (Bel Air,Md./Bel Air) led Harford with four points on the day (2g, 2a), while Rob Benedickson paced the Jersey Blues with three goals.

Harford took an 3-0 lead by the 3:15 mark in the first, but five straight Brookdale goals, including three man-up, gave the Blues a 5-3 advantage with 5:41 left in the second quarter.

Masters assisted on freshman Ben Wilson’s (Bel Air, Md./Fallston) tally at the 2:37 mark and then added his own goal off freshman Dane Grudzien’s (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) pass just 13 seconds later as Harford knotted the score at five.

The start of the third quarter would see Masters give the Owls a 6-5 lead just 55 seconds into the period, with an unassisted tally, but Dave Zoni’s man-up goal from David Koellner tied the game at six.

Brookdale would add three more goals within three minutes of each other with 2:30 left in the quarter to take a 9-6 lead, but Harford would score with 56 seconds left to take its deficit down to two, 9-7 going into the fourth.Freshman Matt Vickers (Baltimore, Md./Loyola) put the Owls within one as he took a feed from Wilson at the 10:00 mark in the fourth, but Mike Duddy would tally the final Brookdale goal at the 8:52 mark on the way to the 10-8 Jersey Blues victory.

Harford outshot Brookdale, 41-27, but the teams were evenly matched with 47 ground balls each, 29 turnovers by Harford, and 30 giveaways by Brookdale. The Blues dominated the man-up situations, scoring on five of eight chances, while Harford had no goals in its three extra-man opportunities. Brookdale held a slight edge in faceoffs, winning 12 to Harford’s 10 and also saw keeper John Tanner total 16 saves to freshman Mike Miller’s (Parkville, Md./Parkville) seven in the 60:00.The Fighting Owls return to action on Friday when they continue a four-game homestand with a 7:00 p.m. match-up against Alfred State.

Harford Men’s Lacrosse Edges Morris, 15-14; Women Fall to No. 4 Nassau in OT, 10-9

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford men’s and women’s lacrosse saw a nail-biting doubleheader on a miserably rainy Friday night at Harford Stadium as the men scored with 13 seconds left to down visiting Morris, 15-14, and the women scored with 47 seconds left to force an overtime period as they fell to No. 4 Nassau, 10-9 (OT). The Fighting Owls men (3-0) won their third straight, while the Titans (0-1) opened their season against Harford. Morris will also play at Harford Stadium on Saturday at 1:00 p.m. when they face Montgomery College-Rockville.Freshman Dane Grudzien (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) led Harford with six points (5g, 1a) against Morris, including the game-winner, while Carl Mauch (3g, 1a) and David Soule (2g, 2a) each tallied four points for the Titans.

Harford only trailed once, 2-1, in the first quarter and led by as many as six goals, 9-3, in the second. The Owls took a comfortable four-goal lead (9-5) into the break, but would score just one goal in the third, while Morris added three to cut the lead to two, 10-8, going into the final period.

Freshman JD Snyder (Belcamp, Md./Harford Tech), who fulfilled most of the faceoff duties throughout the night, winning 16 of his 27 tries at X, wasted no time at the start of the fourth, corralling the ground ball and streaking down the field to fire past Morris keeper, Travis Witty, with just six seconds ticking off the clock.A little over a minute-and-a-half later Harford would add another goal, this time by freshman Matt Vickers (Baltimore, Md./Loyola) off a pass from freshman Eric Kluge (North East, Md./North East), and the lead would be back to four, 12-8.

Morris, however, would outscore the Owls, 6-2, over the next nearly 12 minutes, knotting the score at 14 with 1:27 left to play.

Harford won the ensuing faceoff and though it squandered its opportunity, capitalized on the Titans’ failed clear as Grudzien wrapped around the right side of the goal and dumped the ball over Witty’s right shoulder with 13 seconds left on the clock.

Morris controlled the faceoff but couldn’t get any shots off as time expired to give Harford the 15-14 win.

The Titans led in nearly every statistical category, outshooting the Owls, 33-31, corralling 54 ground balls to Harford’s 52 and Witty making 10 saves in 60:00 compared to freshman Tim Kemena’s (West Chester, Pa./West Chester Henderson) five in 38:00 and freshman Mike Miller’s (Parkville, Md./Parkville) three in 22:00.

On the women’s side, sophomore Melissa Warczynski (Street, Md./North Harford) paced the Fighting Owls (0-2) with four points (3g, 1a) while Shannon Asquino led the Lions (1-0) with four goals. The two teams battled back and forth for most of the first half, but after Harford took its first lead, 6-5, with just under 10 minutes left, the Lions would score three straight goals to take a 8-6 lead at halftime.

Nassau would extend its advantage to three, 9-6, at the 27:51 mark, but two goals from Warczynski would put the Owls within one, 9-8, with over 20 minutes left. Freshman Kaitlyn Hall (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) would come up with some key saves over the remainder of the second half and freshman Yuliya Kolosey (Port Deposit, Md./Perryville) would score with 47 seconds left to equal the game at nine and send it to overtime.

Nassau capitalized on a Harford foul near the end of the first 3:00 overtime period as Asquino converted on her free position attempt and neither team would score in the second overtime as Nassau pulled out the 10-9 victory.

The Lions outshot Harford, 35-24 and controlled 30 ground balls compared to the Owls’ 25, but freshman Stefanie Saul (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen) and Hall combined for 16 saves, Saul with eight in 30:00 and Hall with eight in 38:00, while Nassau’s Ellen Kleeman stopped 10 shots in 66:00.

The Fighting Owls men return to action on Sunday when they host Brookdale for a 1:00 p.m. game, while the women will travel to Howard on Tuesday, Mar. 16 for a 3:30 p.m. game.