Lakers sweep Hagerstown, blank Westmoreland in D-II contest
McHenry, MD – Not all baseball games are created equally – as evidenced Saturday afternoon at Garrett College.
The Lakers blanked Westmoreland County Community College, 9-0, in the opener before the Wolfpack used a six-run fifth inning to claim the nightcap, 9-5. This split, however, was certainly in GC’s favor as the opener was pre-designated as counting in the NJCAA Division II Region 20 standings.
GC will visit Westmoreland later this season, with the opener again counting in the divisional standings.
Garrett swept host Hagerstown Community College, 8-4 and 15-13, on Friday in a doubleheader in which both games counted in the divisional standings. The Lakers pounded out 23 hits in 14 innings, with Ty Giblin and Angel Oquendo each collecting four hits in the doubleheader.
The three divisional wins left GC (13-16 overall, 5-2 division) in third place in the Division II standings behind CCBC-Catonsville (16-9, 9-0) and Frederick Community College (23-4, 4-0) with Allegany College of Maryland (21-6, 9-5) in fourth place.
“We had a decent week, going 3-0 in the division,” said GC head coach Eric Hallenbeck, whose squad has gone 11-7 since a 2-9 start against a rugged non-division schedule.
“This time last year I think we were 1-5 [in the division] to start,” added Hallenbeck. “The sweep at Hagerstown was huge for us. Any time you can sweep on the road in the division it’s big.”
Coleman Bullard (2-1) pitched a complete-game shutout in the Westmoreland opener, spacing seven hits with no walks and two strikeouts.
“Bullard pitched a good game – he scattered his hits around,” said Hallenbeck.
The Laker offense provided speedy support, putting together a four-run first inning against the Wolfpack. Colby Schmitz (2-for-3, run) had a two-run triple and the Westmoreland defense permitted a pair of unearned runs during GC’s first-inning uprising.
Oquendo (two doubles) went 3-for-4 with two runs and two RBI as Garrett collected nine hits in the opener. Steven Laurence added a hit and two RBI.
GC looked headed for a sweep in the nightcap, taking a 4-2 lead into the sixth inning. Westmoreland, however, put together a six-run sixth to gain a split.
“We had a couple of defensive miscues and walked a couple of guys, but they [Westmoreland] had 11 hits in the second game,” said Hallenbeck. “We just couldn’t get them out in that sixth inning.”
Lance Vickers (two runs, RBI) went 3-for-3 with a triple while Giblin (three runs, three RBI) was 2-for-3 with a homer in the Hagerstown opener. Schmitz (2-0) spaced three hits and four walks over six innings while striking out five for GC.
Oquendo went 3-for-5 while driving in four runs in the Hagerstown nightcap. He finished the four-game weekend set hitting .538 (7-for-13, two runs, six RBI).
Dariel Walker was 1-for-1 with a double and two sacrifice flies, driving in three runs for the Lakers, and Chance Ritchey (run, two RBI) went 2-for-3 in Game 2 against Hagerstown. Logan Leon, the second of three GC pitchers, got the win to improve to 2-0, while Alphonso Westbrook went the final 3 1/3 innings to earn his second save.
“The second game against Hagerstown was just a battle of attrition,” said Hallenbeck of a contest that featured eight errors, four by each team.
The Lakers will host CCBC-Essex (9-12, 4-4) in a key divisional doubleheader that is a rescheduling of an earlier postponement. The starting time is still to be determined.
