ARNOLD, Md. – The Anne Arundel Community College baseball team split a Region 20 divisional doubleheader with the East Division leaders, Chesapeake College, Sunday afternoon at Skip Brown Field. The Riverhawks fell to the Skipjacks, 6-5, in eight innings in the opener before dealing Chesapeake a 12-5 loss in the nightcap.
Nicco Holland went 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, three RBI, and four runs scored on the day. Camden Hodges hit 4-for-8 with three runs scored and two RBI. Ethan Hopkins went 3-for-7 on the day with a double and a triple on the day, driving in four runs in the second game.
Game One
After trailing, 5-2, AACC tied up the game with two outs in the fifth. After Evan Birch drew a walk, Coach Hoffner replaced him at first with Jack Woods, who immediately stole second and got to third on an overthrow. Hodges reached via error sending Woods across the plate. Holland then hit his third home run of the season to tie it up.
Holland then moved to the mound from first base to retire the Skipjacks in order in the sixth. Both sides went down in order until the eighth. Chesapeake led off with back-to-back walks before AACC turned a double play. With a runner on second, a long single from Kaleb Elliott sent the go-ahead run across.
Holland led off the bottom of the inning with an infield single and later stole second, but Chesapeake retired the final two batters on a fly out and a swinging strikeout.
Holland shouldered the loss with one run on one hit and three walks in the final three innings. Jack Davidson struck out three while allowing five runs (two earned) on four hits through four innings.
Game Two
After giving up three runs to the Skipjacks in the first, AACC scored six runs on three hits in the bottom of the inning and never relinquished the lead. The Riverhawks led off with back-to-back walks before Hodges loaded the bases with a single. A bases-loaded walk put AACC on the board before Travis Fleshman hit a two-run single. Ethan Hopkins drove in two more runs with a triple to center before Griffin Klein used a sac fly to right to push Hopkins across the plate.
Chesapeake got one run back on a sac fly in the fourth before AACC scored twice in the bottom of the inning and added three more runs in the fifth.
RBI singles from Hodges and Klein combined with wild pitching and heads up base running to score two in the fourth. It was much of the same in the fifth with an RBI walk from Fleshman and a two-run single to deep left center from Hopkins.
After two quick outs, the Skipjacks notched one more run in the sixth on a single through the left. AACC responded in the bottom half of the inning on a Hodges sac fly to right.
Caden Houck moved to 3-3 on the season with the win in a four-inning relief appearance. He allowed two runs on four hits while walking three. Austin Ferreira had the start, going two innings with two strikeouts, three walks, and giving up three runs on two hits. Nolan Spring closed out the game, seeing just one Chesapeake player reach base in the final inning.
The Riverhawks, winners of five of their last six games, travel to Westmoreland on Friday, April 11, and then to CCBC Essex on Sunday, April 13, for divisional doubleheaders.
