GAME ONE:
By Dubray Kinney
The Montgomery College varsity baseball team defeated the Burlington County Barons 10-4 in the first game of a doubleheader.
After a number of delays and cancellations due to bad field conditions, the Raptors finally took their home field on a Sunday afternoon, facing the Burlington County club from New Jersey.
The game started out badly for the Raptors; the Barons had six hits in their first four innings, including a home run and three stolen bases. Sophomore starting pitcher John Maloney was pulled in the top of the 4th inning after hitting a batter.
Following the pitching change, sophomore relief pitcher Nick Ponafala entered and picked up a win while allowing only a single hit, notching two strikeouts.
The Raptors’ bats came alive in the bottom of the fifth inning–after being down 2-4, coach Rascher’s club scored eight straight runs before finally being retired. The momentous turn came after sophomore shortstop Nick Kuczarski went yard to start off the inning, igniting the scoring rally.
The Barons brought in a relief pitcher in the bottom of the 5th in an attempt to stop the raptors’ run, but by then the damage had been done.
“The kids just batted all day long.” said head coach Dan Rascher. “We had a big inning.”
Rascher’s club held down the final two innings defensively, allowing just one hit and a walk before taking the first of two against Burlington County.
“After we all had the first couple of jitters, [we] were fine.” said shortstop Nick Kuczarski following the game. “We all just played the game like we know how to play.”
GAME TWO:
By Ben Holmes
The Raptors (12-4) swept a doubleheader against the Burlington Barons, and have developed a helpful habit of only needing one hot inning to get a notch in the win column.
After scoring eight runs in the fifth inning of the first game, the Raptors carried their offensive momentum into game two. Scoring all six of their runs in the fourth, the home team made the sweep complete with a 6-4 final.
SP Andrew McWilliams only pitched through four innings, but it was enough to get the win on his record, backed by just enough run support–the majority of it coming from infielder Tyler Coleman, who had a stellar 4-4 afternoon.
Relief pitcher Antonio Pino picked up his second save of the season after closing out the final two innings of the doubleheader.
Perhaps the most refreshing aspect for the Raptors other than the win would be the simple opportunity to play in good weather. The tumultuous weather at the start of the season had the team on tilt, but that seems to be in the past.
“It’s great, I thought it was never going to happen, but today was perfect for it. Just to be here healthy and be able to play ball is the best part about all of this” said shortstop Nick Kuczarski.
With finally being able to play some baseball at home in nice weather, it seems the Raptors have found their regular season form in mid April. They’ll look to keep that momentum in swing April 8 against Garrett CC at home.
