The University of Maryland baseball team is playing some of its cleanest baseball of the season in the opening series of Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play against Norfolk State University. After taking the Friday (March 18) game handedly, the Hawks split the Saturday (March 19) doubleheader with Spartans, dropping a close game one 7-9 and then dominating game two 11-3.
“We have a great approach at the plate, the boys are boppin,” second basemen Nick Roets said. “We had a bit of a skid in the first game, but Noah came on the mound (in the second) and shut it down, we backed him up on defense and put up a bunch of wins, that’s the formula for a win.”
The Hawks struggled to find a groove early in game one, falling behind early 3-0 to Norfolk before responding with a three-run inning in the bottom of the fourth against starter Cameron Bratton (0-4).
Derrick Mayes II led off the inning with a double and Dillon Oxyer walked before Bryan Widdowson was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Ryan Howe came to bat and then knocked a two-run double to right and Brantley Cutler evened it up 3-3 in his at-bat with a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Widdowson from third.
Unfortunately for the Hawks, the wheels fell off in the top of the fifth inning, allowing five Spartan runs to drive the score up to 9-3 in the visitors favor. Norfolk was able to string together several quality at-bats and capitalized on a two-run homer by right fielder Phillip Boykin, that run off reliever Caden Parker.
“I thought Cam had the opportunity to shut door in fifth when we tied the game up and then they hung up a six spot,” head coach Brian Hollamon said. “I thought he threw the ball well. If we had kept it to two or three runs, I think we still would have been in the game.”
There was no relent in the Shore offense through the rest of the game, scoring four more over the next few innings before the game was over in seventh due to the double header. Luke Myers had a single to short in the fifth, then used heads up base running on a wild pitch to score.
In the bottom of the sixth Cutler had his second RBI of the game with a no-doubt home run.
“He’s gonna run into some balls and hit them a good ways,” Hollamon said. “He’s hitting the ball well, it’s a pleasure to watch.”
Last call was in the seventh and the Hawks threatened thanks to back-to-back bunts by Zach Garcia and Derrick Mayes put runners in scoring position – Garcia would be driven in by an Oxyer groundout and Mayes a double by Bryan Widdowson. Despite coming within two, the Hawks simply just ran out of innings that would be allowed in a single game.
“Had the game been nine, I’m not sure they wouldn’t of had their hands full,” Hollamon said. “We were fighting back, we just ran out of time, that’s what it boiled down to. We didn’t make a whole lot of mistakes, they capitalized in the one big inning and that’s just baseball stuff and you deal with it.”
Game two was a much different story for the Hawks, getting an early run off of a few mistakes by Norfolk starter Zac Capps allowing four walks in the first and catcher Dominic Joseph allowing two passed balls. The Shore left three on base but Widdowson was able to take a free stroll to home when Brian Cordell walked with the bases juiced.
There was an offensive explosion in the bottom of the third for the Shore, scoring five runs off of great hitting by Howe, Marcus Brown and Nick Roets. Howe kicked off the runs by driving in Oxyer, who walked and stole second, advancing to third on a throwing error by Joseph. Brown who has been heating up after a slow start to the year, then smacked a double to score Cordell and Howe to make it 4-0 Hawks.
Not known for his power, Roets then came to bat and with the wind at his back he was able to hit a no-doubt, two-run RBI – the first of his collegiate career.
“I didn’t know it was gone at first,” Roets said. “We knew the wind was blowing today and if you hit something and elevate it in the air it’ll go in the right direction, glad to help the team win.”
In the fifth inning the Hawks once again relied on Roets for an offensive explosion. Howe led off the inning with a double and Brown took a walk to first, then Roets knocked a double that had him on third following a throwing error for two more runs. Anders Brown pinch hit for Mayes later in the inning and the freshman responded with a single for another run, making it 9-0 Hawks.
“One of the cool things about this team is you take one guy out and put another guy in, then they play well,” Hollamon said. “I have no doubt that when I take guys out that I’m going to get the same production.”
Norfolk was able to grab two runs in the top of the sixth after starter Noah Covington (2-0) had lost a bit of the control he had through five, mostly due to two long innings waiting to get back on the mound.
“He sat on the bench for a little while when we were scoring runs in the fifth,” Hollamon said. “We were out there for a while and when you’re locked in and then sitting on the bench for a while, it’s tough.”
Marcus Brown backed his starter up though in the bottom of the inning with a two-run single scoring Cordell and Howe for his third and fourth RBIs of the day.
Between Marcus Brown and Nick Roets, the upperclassmen knocked in seven of the Hawks eleven runs in the game.
“Nick hit a bomb and that was fun to watch – with the wind blowing the way it was some balls got up and they got out of there,” Hollamon said. “Marcus had two base hits with two runners on, scoring four RBIs, that was a nice thing to see. That’s what he’s capable of.”