Baseball Drops Both Games of Season Opener

The College of Southern Maryland baseball team dropped both games of their season-opening doubleheader on March 6 against the Potomac State College of WVU Catamounts. The Hawks lost Game 1 by a score of 4-3 in seven innings and Game 2 by a score of 18-2 in five innings.

Third-year player Trevor Drummond got the Hawks on the board first in the first inning of Game 1 with an RBI sacrifice fly that scored second-year player Ethan Zorbaugh from third.

After Potomac State scored three runs in their half of the fifth to go up 4-1, third-year player Peyton Myers hit the first home run of the season for CSM in their half of the inning, a solo shot over the left field fence to bring the Hawks to within two. Second-year player Eli Wilhelm scored when a Potomac State pitcher tried to pick him off at second base, but the throw went into center field, allowing him to come all the way around to make it 4-3.

Third-year pitcher Dylan Bell provided three solid innings of work on the mound, giving up only three hits, two walks, and one earned run while striking out two batters.

"Dylan competes on the mound and always gives everything he has," head coach Aaron Michael said. "We had a max pitch count for all of our players, and he was still strong as he reached that limit, which gives us a lot of confidence in extending his next outing for a stronger outcome.

"Meanwhile, Peyton gave us a huge lift with his home run in Game 1, while Trevor gave us the lead in each game with a first inning RBI."

Drummond got his second RBI of the day when he drove in freshman Jordan McKenzie with a single in the first inning of Game 2 to put CSM up 1-0.

The wheels fell off for the Hawks in the third, however, when they gave up nine runs to the Catamounts to fall into a 12-1 hole they would not be able to climb out of.

CSM got one run back when freshman Layne Freese brought home freshman Blake DiPietro from second base with a two-out RBI single to center in the fourth inning. DiPietro made it to second after hustling out his base hit to right field to lead off the inning.

Potomac State piled on six more runs in the fifth to end the scoring for the day.

"We played a tough team very closely in Game 1, but could not sustain our level of play for the second contest, so we are focusing on getting consistent play for 14 innings," Michael said.

"The positives we came away with were that we can compete with the top-tier teams, and with the unfortunate outcome of the second game, the silver lining is that we were able to get a lot of players into the game and evaluate them to help the coaching staff learn how we can best utilize each player."

Regardless of the results, Michael said it was "exciting for sure" to finally be back out on the field playing a game after not being able to do so for nearly a year, but, "perhaps we were a bit too amped up, trying to do too much and, to an extent we expected some over anticipation, but it's important to get past that first outing and hopefully begin to settle in for the remainder of the season."

The Hawks will return to the diamond on March 13 when they host the CCBC Dundalk Lions for a doubleheader. First pitch of Game 1 is set for noon.