Coming off the heels of its 10-2 win against Hood College JV last Thursday, the Frederick Community College baseball team faced off against Harford Community College, an NJCAA Division I team, in a doubleheader on Saturday.
The Cougars entered the pair of games with an 18-4 overall record and 0-1 record within the conference. Unfortunately for the Cougars, they left the field Saturday with two more losses, dropping the first game 16-13 and getting shutout in the second, 10-0.
The first game of the afternoon saw a barrage of offensive output by both teams, resulting in a combined 29 runs, including a 3-for-4 day at the plate from sophomore outfielder Maciah Thomas (four runs).
“I was able to time the [opposing pitcher] and just relax out there in the first game and not give into my nerves too much,” Thomas said. “There was a lot of hype leading into the game(s) this weekend since [both Harford and FCC] are the two best JUCO baseball teams in Maryland.”
Sophomore infielder Nick Fuhrmann, who finished the day 3-for-4 with five RBI’s, hit a homerun in the bottom of the fourth that he thought would turn the tide.
“I thought we were going to take [the victory] once I hit that home run,” Fuhrmann said. “I figured we’d pull ahead and that was going to be it, but it just didn’t work out unfortunately.”
Sophomore pitcher Kyle Raubenstine (3.0 innings, four hits, five earned runs, four walks, four strikeouts) started the game, and freshman pitcher Teagan Staver (2.0 innings, six hits, six earned runs, one walk, two strikeouts) came in as a reliever and was credited with the loss, falling to 0-2 on the season.
The Cougars faced Harford’s sophomore pitcher Will Reed, a University of West Virginia commit, in the following game. Reed threw five shutout innings and only allowed three hits.
“He was probably the best pitcher we’ve faced all year, in my opinion,” Fuhrmann said. “It wasn’t impossible to hit, but he had good movement and hit the corners [of the plate]. He didn’t really leave anything in the strike zone for us to hit.”
Thomas added by saying that while it was disappointing to lose, facing “a high caliber [pitcher like Reed] was a good test to see where we stand as a team against that level of competition.”
Sophomore pitcher Doug Pearl started the second game (3.0 innings, seven hits, three earned runs, six walks and two strikeouts) and fell to 3-1 on the season after the loss.
Next up for the Cougars is a home game against Allegany College (12-1 overall, 4-1 in conference) Tuesday at 3 p.m.
