HCC Sports Round-Up: Lacrosse, Baseball, Softball Losses

From the HCC Sports Department:

Harford Men’s Lacrosse Suffers 16-5 Blowout by No. 2 Nassau

BEL AIR, Md.—Just two days after facing No. 1 CCBC-Essex, the Harford men’s lacrosse team hosted No. 2 Nassau, falling to the Lions (9-1), 16-5, on Saturday at Harford Stadium.

Freshmen Matt Vickers (Baltimore, Md./Loyola) and Dane Grudzien (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) each tallied two goals for the Fighting Owls (6-5), while sophomore Branden Kenny (Edgewood, Md./Edgewood) added two assists for the third straight game.

Kyle Smith paced Nassau with five points (2g, 3a), while Owen Campbell and James McLoughlin each added two goals.

Nassau commanded the game from the start, taking just five seconds to notch its first goal. By the end of the first quarter, the Lions would have a 7-0 lead and would complete an 8-0 run 1:06 into the second quarter, before Harford finally got on the board at the 2:16 mark with an unassisted tally from sophomore Craig Hanzelka (Edgewood, Md./Edgewood).

Five more Nassau goals would transpire before the Owls struck again, this time as Grudzien put one into the net with 51 seconds left in the quarter to send the teams into the break with Nassau up, 13-2.

The Lions called off the dogs in the second half, scoring two goals to the Owls’ one in the third and one to Harford’s two in the fourth on the way to the 16-5 blowout victory.

Nassau outshot Harford 45-21 and held a 67-44 advantage in ground balls, but Harford held its own at the face-off X, winning 11 tries to Nassau’s 14. The Lions also capitalized on 13 Harford penalties, including six (five personal) on sophomore BJ Bello (Edgewood, Md./Edgewood) causing his disqualification from the game.

Harford freshmen Mike Miller (Parkville, Md./Parkville) and Tim Kemena (West Chester, Pa./West Chester Henderson) did best Nassau in goal, combining for 14 saves—nine for Miller in 30:00 and five for Kemena in 30:00—while Andrew Zoly, Tim Bradley and Tim Lyons combined for eight, with Zoly making two in 15:00, Bradley making five in 24:42 and Lyons stopping one shot in 20:18.

The Fighting Owls return to action on Wednesday when they host Howard for a 4:00 p.m. matchup at Harford Stadium.

Harford Baseball Snaps 19-Game Win Streak, Falls to No. 2 Gloucester, No. 5 Frederick

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford baseball team saw its win streak end at 19 last weekend as it fell to two nationally-ranked teams. Division-III No. 2 Gloucester snapped the Fighting Owls (26-8, 13-5 MDJUCO) win streak with a 9-5 on Friday before conference-leading and D-II No. 5 Frederick swept a doubleheader from Harford, 14-2 (6 inn.) and 14-8 (9 inn.).

Sophomore Mike Krider (State College, Pa./State College) led Harford against the Roadrunners (20-6), going 3-for-5 with two doubles and three RBI while freshman Jordan Lozzi (Fallston, Md./Fallston) (4-1) suffered his first loss of the season, giving up six runs (two earned) on seven hits and fanning three batters in 4.1 innings.

Harford struggled in the field against Gloucester, committing four errors, which would lead to five unearned runs, including three in the third, which gave the Roadrunners their first lead of the game after Harford opened with one run in the first off sophomore Mike Maxwell’s (Salem, N.J./Woodstown) RBI single.

Krider added two more in the bottom of the third with a two-run RBI double to knot the score at three, but Gloucester would tally a total of six runs over the next four innings, while Harford just managed two on the way to the 9-5 decision.

Sophomore Willie Barnola (Barquisimeto, Venezuela/UEC J.G. Bastidas) led the Owls in the doubleheader against Frederick, going 4-for-6 on the day with two doubles, three runs and a walk. Sophomore Mike Rappazzo (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) (2-2) was shelled for nine runs on six hits and five walks and struck out one batter in 2.1 innings to suffer the game one loss, while sophomore Jordan Heller (Loch Raven, Md./Loch Raven/Chesapeake) (1-1) had some bad luck at the plate and gave up four runs on four hits, four walks and struck out one in three innings during game two.

Harford saw the Cougars (32-2, 16-0) take a 5-1 lead after two innings, a significant deficit for the Owls, but still manageable, before Frederick blew the game wide open with six runs in the third for a 11-1 lead.

Harford fought-off the 10-run rule in the nick of time, tallying one run in the bottom of the fifth to keep the game alive thanks to Heller’s RBI triple, but the effort was nullified as Frederick added three runs in the sixth and held the Owls scoreless in the bottom of the inning on the way to the truncated, 14-2 (6 inn.) win.

Game two looked to be going the same way as Frederick built a 8-1 lead after three innings, but Harford rallied for five runs in the fourth off RBI singles from Heller and freshman Alex Riley (Newark, Del./A.I. Dupont/Wesley) and a bases-clearing, three-run RBI triple by sophomore Woody Wlodarczyk (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) to put Harford within two, 8-6.

Two more runs in the fifth off a sacrifice fly from freshman Pat Liberatore (Newark, Del./Del. Military Academy) and an RBI single by Heller knotted the score at eight. The sixth saw Heller take the mound and keep Frederick scoreless for three innings, giving up just two hits as the game went into extra innings.

Harford was also held scoreless for three innings, sending the game into the ninth inning with the score tied at eight. Heller, who normally has a deadly curve ball and equally impressive fastball, struggled to hit home plate umpire Bob Tedeschi’s miniscule and erratic strike zone in the ninth, loading the bases and then walking in the go-ahead run before sophomore Joe Harbach (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood) replaced him on the rubber.

Harbach did not fare much better, walking his first batter to let another run cross the plate before getting the first out of the inning. A second out immediately followed, but the sac fly added another run to the Frederick total to make the score 11-8. The Cougars weren’t done, however, three more runs on two hits before Harbach got out of the inning with the Owls down six, 14-8.
Harford saw three batters reach safely in the bottom of the ninth, but stranded two of them as Frederick earned the 14-8 extra-inning win.

The Fighting Owls look to get back on track on Tuesday as they host CCBC-Essex for a 6:30 p.m. game at Harford Baseball Field.

Harford Softball Nearly Upsets No. 1 Brookdale, 9-8 in Game Two, Blanked 6-0 in Game One

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford softball team nearly upset Division-III No. 1 Brookdale as it fell to the Jersey Blues (21-4), 9-8, in game two of a doubleheader on Friday at Harford Softball Field. The Blues also blanked the Owls, 6-0, in game one.

Game two saw Brookdale take a 4-0 lead in the first, but the Fighting Owls (7-11) added four runs of its own in the bottom of the inning thanks to two Brookdale errors and a two-run RBI double from freshman Mariah Ripken (Havre de Grace, Md./Havre de Grace/Kutztown).

The offensive output continued into the second for both teams, with the Blues tallying three runs and Harford scoring twice to make it a one-run game, 7-6, before freshman Cierra Stinson’s (Nottingham, Md./Mercy) solo homer in the fourth knotted the score and a Brookdale error in the fifth gave the Owls an 8-7 lead.

An Owl error started the sixth inning, putting the winning run at the plate and a two-out home run gave Brookdale two unearned runs and the 9-8 lead, which they would hold on the way to the game two victory.

Game one saw just seven Owl batters reach base on five hits, a walk and a fielder’s choice as Kaitlyn Svenson earned the shutout win for Brookdale, striking out three and surrendering five hits in seven innings on the way to the 6-0 decision.

Stinson led the Owls on the day, going 4-for-6 with three runs a double, a home run, an RBI and two walks, while Ripken and freshman Natalie Baker (Aberdeen, Md./Aberdeen were tabbed with the losses. Ripken allowed six runs (five earned) on 11 hits and struck out four in seven innings during game one, while Baker gave up nine (seven earned) on 13 hits and fanned three batters in seven innings in game two.