ARNOLD, Md. -- The Anne Arundel Community College baseball team defeated visiting College of Southern Maryland, 5-2, in the first round of the NJCAA Region 20 DII tournament Tuesday afternoon at Skip Brown Field. A combination of stellar pitching and clutch hitting propelled the Riverhawks to the elimination round of the tournament for the third-straight season.
AACC starter Nicco Holland had a no-hitter into the sixth inning, and reliever Matt Donaldson allowed just one hit the rest of the way.
Camden Hodges drove in two runs with a double in the second and a leadoff home run in the fifth.
AACC got on the board in the second with a two-out RBI single from Evan Birch to score Travis Fleshman, who had singled and stolen second.
The Riverhawks added three more runs in the third on three hits and an error. Sam Ross led off with a single and promptly stole second. Griffin Klein hit a single to the shortstop and advanced to second on a late overthrow, allowing Ross to score from second. Hodges' double scored Klein for a 3-0 lead.
Russell Turner followed with a single to put runners on the corners before stealing second. Fleshman drew a walk to load the bases, and Hodges scored on a Rylan Pallé sac fly to right for a 4-0 lead.
Holland recorded three strikeouts in the top of the fifth, and Hodges edged the Riverhawks ahead to a 5-0 lead with his fifth home run of the season in the bottom half of the inning.
Southern Maryland got its two runs in the sixth, first on a wild pitch after getting runners in scoring position on a single and a double. The next batter singled to right, but Holland induced a flyout and got the final batter out swinging at the plate.
AACC secured the win in the ninth with three straight fly outs to Ross in center field. Donaldson only allowed one hit, a leadoff single in the eighth inning, for his second save of the season. Holland improved to 4-3.
The third seeded Riverhawks are scheduled to face second seed CCBC Catonsville at 12 p.m. on Friday, May 9, at Chesapeake College to begin the double elimination round of the East Division tournament. Games in this round continue through Sunday, May 11, with the winner then advancing to face the West Division winner next weekend.
