Chesapeake hangs tough, overcomes Raptors

WYE MILLS – Montgomery College's Andy McWilliams blanked the Skipjacks for four innings, but he didn't make it out of the fifth Thursday afternoon as Kam Stewart's three-run triple ignited a four-run outburst that sparked Chesapeake College to a 10-2 baseball triumph.

"Montgomery's a good team, but we kept competing and finally broke out in the fifth with some big hits," said Chesapeake head coach Frank Szymanski, whose Skipjacks had lost two one-run games while going 2-3 in their previous five contests.  "Our kids keep competing.  Even Sunday at Hagerstown (in an 11-5 loss) we competed.  We just didn't get the job done."

The Skipjacks (20-11 overall, 9-3 league) got the job done in Thursday's fifth-inning explosion, which all started with one out and the Raptors nursing a 1-0 lead.

J.D. Correa (2-for-3, two runs) singled, Trent Ehret doubled, and McWilliams issued a free pass to load the bases to set the stage for Stewart's go-ahead triple.  Stewart (2-for-4, two runs, four RBI) then scored on a two-out hit by Danny Allen (3-for-5, three RBI).

"Kam and Danny were clutch in that fifth inning," said Szymanski.

Blake Musser singled in a seventh-inning run to make it 5-1 and the Skipjacks broke the game open with a five-run eighth that featured two-run singles by Jordan Gowe and Allen.

Tyler Tobin was the winning pitcher, holding the Raptors to one earned run on six hits in six innings with six strikeouts and no walks.  Tellef Notevarp earned the save by pitching the final three innings, allowing an earned run on two hits and a walk with two strikeouts.

The Skipjacks play a huge noon doubleheader at Harford Community College on Saturday.  The Owls (26-9-1, 12-3) were percentage points behind conference co-leaders Frederick Community College (26-8, 11-2) and CCBC-Catonsville (19-10, 11-2), pending Catonsville's game yesterday against Anne Arundel Community College.  Catonsville and Frederick clash in a critical Saturday doubleheader at Frederick.