FREDERICK, Md. – The Anne Arundel Community College baseball team gave up an early lead and lost in extra innings to CCBC Catonsville Sunday in the NJCAA Region 20 Division II Baseball Tournament. The Riverhawks got an absolute gem of a performance from starting pitcher Donny White, who struck out four and surrendered just three hits through seven innings.
The game was a pitchers duel up to the fifth when AACC scored three runs on four hits in the frame. Sebastian Casanova hit a one out single and got to second on a wild pitch. Chris Ricks then beat out the throw on a single to third and Sam Ross loaded the bases with a looper to center field.
This set up John Greenawalt for a two-run single right up the middle. Nicco Holland reached on a fielder's choice as the Cardinals threw out Greenawalt at second. Ross noticed some commotion around the play and sprinted for home to make it 3-0, AACC.
Ricks led off the seventh with a single to right, stole second, then stole third and crossed the plate on a bad throw trying to get him at third to push the Riverhawks ahead, 4-0.
White struck out the first batter of the seventh and after a walk, induced a pair of pop outs to keep Catonsville off the board.
The Cardinals brought in John Perozzi to throw the eighth and after giving up a single to Russell Turner and a walk to Griffin Klein, he struck out the next three batters.
It was in the bottom of the eighth that CCBC Catonsville started its comeback. Holland transitioned to the mound from first base and allowed a leadoff single. That run came around on a Trenton Snyder triple way out in left field. The next batter singled to score Snyder and cut the Riverhawks' lead in half.
AACC then brought in Ross to close out the game. He got the second out of the inning on a fly out to right, but the shot scored a runner from third, making it 4-3 in favor of AACC. Ross got the final batter to line out to short stop to end the threat.
After retiring the Riverhawks in order in the ninth, Noah Milum hit a pinch hit home run to left to tie the game. The Cardinals later got a runner to second, but AACC ended the inning with a quick out at second.
Catonsville retired the Riverhawks in order in the top of the 10th and loaded the bases with one out. Milum was the hero again, placing the walk off single in the left field gap.
White threw 106 pitches on the day in his longest outing of his careeer. Ross took the loss with two runs on seven hits through the final two innings. Holland's brief outing allowed three runs on four hits.
White and Ricks were named to the All-Tournament Team.
The Riverhawks made their second consecutive trip to the double elimination round of the Region 20 tournament and conclude their season with a 28-24 record, amassing the most wins in a season since 2012.