Skipjacks fall to Potomac State, face tough road to region title
HAGERSTOWN – Jamison Jones and David Kimbrough each went 2-for-4 Sunday afternoon and Sam Vincenzo pitched a complete-game five-hitter as top-seeded Potomac State College wore down second-seeded Chesapeake College, 9-1, in the winners' bracket finals of the NJCAA Division I Region XX baseball tournament.
Jones doubled in one run and scored another in a two-run third inning, then doubled in two more runs in the fourth as Potomac State blew out to a 4-0 lead. The Catamounts (37-14) broke the game open with a five-run seventh inning.
Kimbrough drove in Jones with a third-inning single. The Catamounts finished with nine hits.
That was more than enough offense for Vincenzo, who struck out four and walked two. Casey Joseph's fifth-inning sacrifice fly, which scored Dillon Shaw, accounted for Chesapeake's only run.
Scott Fox and Connar Bastaich had consecutive, run-scoring hits in Potomac State's seventh-inning explosion.
Losing pitcher Jim Wix (5-4) pitched 6 2/3 innings, yielding six earned runs on nine hits and three walks with two strikeouts and one hit batsman.
Potomac State advanced to Monday's title game. Chesapeake will play fourth-seeded Harford Community College (3-51) in Monday's losers' bracket final. Harford defeated host Hagerstown, 7-4, in Sunday's elimination game.
The Skipjacks will be missing seven players who had to return to Chesapeake Sunday night to take final exams on Monday, making their road to a possible region title that much tougher.
Either Chesapeake or Harford will have to beat Potomac State twice to foil the Catamounts' bid for their 11th region title in the last 14 years. The title game will be Monday afternoon and the "if" game, if necessary, will take place Tuesday.
Chesapeake, which had won seven straight, fell to 29-17. The Skipjacks reached the winners' bracket final by defeating Hagerstown, 9-8 in 17 innings, in Friday's first round.