Box Score

The victory was the Fighting Owls' (10-8) sixth straight and fourth in a row at home, while the Lakers (1-9) have now dropped eight in a row.

Freshman Mike Krider (State College, Pa./State College) led Harford on the day, going 3-for-4 with one run scored, two RBI, a stolen base and a walk, while Sean Loomis was 2-for-5 with two runs scored for the Lakers.

Freshman starter Joe Harbach (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood) had a solid outing in his first start of the season, giving up just one run (unearned) on three hits and fanning three batters in 5.0 innings, before freshman Chris Peacher (Abingdon, Md./Harford Tech) entered in relief and pitched one inning before leaving the game due to a batted ball injury.

Freshman Dustin Morgan (3-1) (Berryville, Va./Clark County/Wilmington) picked up his second win in three days, after entering in relief and pitching one inning where he gave up three runs (one earned) on three hits and struck out one before the Owls tacked on 10 runs in the seventh and freshmen Kyle Rooker (Coco Beach, Fla./Space Coast) and Brendon Meyers (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin East) each pitched one-hit scoreless innings on the way to the Harford victory.

Eric Urquhart (0-2) was tabbed with the loss after giving up six runs (three earned) on six hits and striking out three in six innings of work.

The Lakers took advantage of Harford miscues early, as the first two batters of the game reached on errors before the Owls notched their first out.  The next batter walked to load the bases for Jordan Bergado, who brought in a run with a fielder's choice to second.

The Owls would answer in the bottom of the second, however, as freshman Kyle Otstot (Lewisberry, Pa./Redland) belted a leadoff single through the middle, before being caught in a rundown at third, after freshman Simon Beloff (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter/Old Dominion) reached base on a walk, for the first out of the inning.

Two consecutive hit batters loaded the bases and after their second out of the inning, the Lakers allowed two runs to score on a throwing error after freshman Jon Candelaria's (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) batted ball.  Freshman Dean Hicks (Baltimore, Md./Kenwood) added an RBI single through the right side to give Harford a 3-1 lead, before being caught stealing during the next at-bat.

Neither team would score for the next two-and-a-half innings and would combine for just three hits over that span, before Harbach notched a one-out double down the right field line and scored on Krider's RBI single up the middle to give the Owls a 4-1 advantage after five.

Finger Lakes would put two men on base off two singles and a fielder's choice and a wild pitch would put runners in scoring position at second and third before Matt Woodworth's one-out groundout RBI cut the Laker deficit to two, 4-2.  A single and stolen base by Matt Markosky put runners at second and third once again, but Peacher got the Owls out of the inning with a called third strike on Kyle Sielaff.

After being shutdown in order in the bottom of the inning, Harford ran into trouble early in the seventh as Jeff Jones reached on a single up the middle and Loomis took a base on an Owl error, before two consecutive balks by Morgan plated one run and put a runner in scoring position at third.

Harford got two consecutive outs, but wouldn't get out of the inning yet as Patrick Lynch singled through the left side to score Loomis and knot the score at four.  Bergado would add another single that brought Lynch to third, who would  score on yet another Harford error to give Finger Lakers a 5-4 lead.

Harford's troubles didn't last for long, however, as Candelaria and freshman Willie Barnola (Barquisimeto, Venezuela/UEC J.G. Bastidas) reached on a walk and single, respectivel y to start the bottom of the seventh.

After a pitching change, the Lakers would notch their first out, but during Krider's at-bat, Barnola would steal second and Candelaria would score on the throw to second before Krider brought Barnola in with a single to left center to take back the lead, 6-5.

The Owls would add eight more runs on five hits, a hit batter, a walk, a sacrifice fly and a Laker error to take a 14-5 lead after seven innings.

Each team would record one hit in their next inning at bat, with Harford stranding two runners in the eighth, before Harford shut down Finger Lakes in the ninth to gain the 14-5 victory.

The Fighting Owls return to action next Tuesday, March 24 when they travel to Anne Arundel for a conference doubleheader at 3:00 p.m.