Hawks Offense Hammers Gators

The College of Southern Maryland Hawks baseball team took both games of their doubleheader against the Thomas Nelson Community College Gators on March 4, winning Game 1 17-2 and Game 2 12-1.

Game 1

CSM's bats caught fire with two eight-run innings, one in the first and one in the fourth.

Freshman Jordan Tauriac hit his first home run of the season in the first inning, a three-run shot over the right field fence to put the Hawks up 6-0.

Freshman Oscar Flores and sophomore Peyton Myers had big games at the plate, each of them registering four RBIs. They both drove in two runs in the first and the fourth innings.

Sophomore Trevor Drummond had a two-RBI day with two hits and two runs scored. Freshman Austin Simms scored four runs, collected two hits, drove in one run, and walked once.

Freshman Sam Benson threw a complete game for CSM, picking up his first win of the season. He gave up only two runs (one earned), four hits, and two walks while striking out five Gators.

Seventeen is the most runs CSM has scored in a game since March 16, 2018, when they pushed 18 across in a win at Thomas Nelson.

Game 2

Three Hawks hit home runs in Game 2. Myers had two, while Flores and freshman Ethan Zorbaugh bagged their first of the season.

Flores jacked a three-run home run to left field in the bottom of the first inning to put the Hawks up 3-0. Zorbaugh followed that up with a two-run opposite field home run to make it 5-0.

Myers logged four RBIs again off his two round-trippers, one being a three-run home run in the bottom of the second and the other a solo shot the next inning to give the Hawks their final runs of the afternoon.

Drummond pitched four innings en route to his first win of the season. He only gave up two hits and two walks while striking out six of the 16 Gators he faced.

With the Game 2 victory, CSM picked up their first doubleheader sweep since April 7, 2018, when they beat Paul D. Camp Community College 5-4 in both games.

CSM is scheduled to host Bronx Community College for a doubleheader on Saturday, March 7, with first pitch of Game 1 set for 12:00 p.m.

Here's what head coach Aaron Michael had to say after CSM's big day:

"We had a pretty complete game today. Our hitters came and both of our starting pitchers gave us great efforts. It's going to be easier to win when you're kind of clicking on all cylinders. We haven't had that all year, so it was really nice to have it today."

On Benson's Game 1 outing:

"Sam did an excellent job. He really set the tone today. His first inning was a shutdown inning. He struggled a little bit with finding his offspeed pitches in the second and third inning, and gave up a couple runners that he wishes he didn't give up. Peyton made a tremendous play to backpick a guy at second base when they had the bases loaded and one of their best hitters up at the plate. That really changed the game. That defensive play really set the tone for the rest of the day. Sam found himself in a little bit of trouble, but that play, we got out of it and Sam cruised from there. He did an excellent job today."

What he liked most from his lineup's performance:

"They did a much better job of staying within themselves today. I felt like on Sunday when we struggled to hit the ball that they were trying to do too much. Today they were just trying to stay within themselves and try to get the barrell to the ball a little bit more. We did that pretty consistently and there were a lot of balls that were hit hard today. It was just them staying within themselves as opposed to trying to do everything on their own."

On putting up double digit runs and winning both games in 5 innings:

"We've been on the other side of that a lot in the past. Obviously it was better to be on the right side of that outcome for once. We've got a long ways to go. I'm happy with the outcome today, but today's done and we've got to focus on the next outing. I hope the boys keep their heads about them."

What he wants his team to take from these results:

"I want them to know what it feels like to win ball games and to have that taste in their mouth and be hungry to keep going after it for more. We cannot sit back, we cannot think that we're a good team all of a sudden just because of one good day. We've got to keep pressing, we've got to keep pushing to get better. I think this team has the capability of doing that, and we're going to keep working them hard in practice to try to get them there."