Hawks Endure Tough Home Stand

Hawks Endure Tough Home Stand

The College of Southern Maryland Hawks baseball team has continued to struggle at home. They lost all six of their home games last week.

The Hawks had a rough outing on March 26 against Hagerstown Community College. Hagerstown won the first game of the doubleheader 11-1 and the second game 6-0.

"For whatever reason we definitely have hit a lot better over the last week or so than we did here, and that's been the case pretty much all year long," head coach Aaron Michael said.

When CSM went down to South Carolina during spring break, they secured their first wins of the season and the offense finally came alive. The Hawks plated 40 runs in their five games in South Carolina, but when they returned home, the offense did not come back with them.

"We don't score a lot of runs when we're here, and that's unfortunate because this is where we practice all the time," Michael said. "This is where we should be at our best."

CSM showed more fight two days later when Stratford University came to La Plata, scoring six runs in the first game and five runs in the second game of the doubleheader.

Sophomore outfielder Justin Hitt did his best to get the offense going in the first game, batting leadoff and going 3-4 with two RBIs and a run scored. Sophomore outfielder Seth Morrison hit his second home run of the season with his first coming at Stratford on March 16.

"The encouraging thing is that we hit better today at home than we have all year long," Michael said. "You'd love to make big strides all at once and get all the way there, but the reality is that baby steps in the right direction is a positive thing."

Defensive miscues hurt the Hawks the most in the first game of their doubleheader against Prince George's Community College on March 30, an 11-0 loss. They committed four errors, their most in a game since they played Ulster Community College on March 12.

Morrison hit his third home run of the season in the second game of the doubleheader for the Hawks only run of the day.

"Seth's a hard worker and he's one of the first guys at the cage every day," Michael said. "It shows to his dedication level. The home runs come when you're hitting well, and he's hitting the ball pretty well this year."

Losing the way they have this year has been a tough pill for Michael and his Hawks to swallow, but the players continue to push on through the season.

"The thing I love about this team is that they stick together pretty well," Michael said. "They're all on the same page. They all understand what it takes and they're really doing their best to keep the positive mentality. The reality is we have a lot of conference games ahead of us that give us the opportunity to make the playoffs, and that's what their focus is. They're keeping their eyes focused on what's important and they're doing what they can to stay positive and they're doing it as a team."