Box Score
BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford baseball team won its fifth straight as it handed CCBC-Essex a 7-3 decision on Tuesday night at Harford Baseball Field. The Fighting Owls (32-10, 19-7 MDJUCO) held the Knights (13-25-1, 8-16-1 MDJUCO) scoreless for eight innings, before Essex broke up the shutout in the top of the ninth.
Sophomore Joe Harbach (Abingdon, Md./Edgewood) (3-2) earned the win on the mound, striking out five and allowing just one hit in four scoreless innings, while also pacing the Owls at the plate as he went 2-for-4 with a run, an RBI, a walk and two stolen bases. Freshman Eric Quinn (Pylesville, Md./Harford Christian) led Harford, going 2-for-4 with two RBI and a double, the only extra-base hit of the night.
On the Essex side, David Williams led the way, going 1-for-2 and batting in two run, while Brandon Franke (2-2) suffered the loss, giving up five runs (three earned) on five hits and fanning seven batters in five innings.
Harford got onto the board in the second thanks to Quinn's two-run RBI double and capitalized on back-to-back Knight errors in the third, scoring two off sacrifice flies from freshman Christian Wolfe (Bel Air, Md./John Carroll) and sophomore Willie Barnola (Barquisimeto, Venezuela/UEC J.G. Bastidas) for a 4-0 lead.
The four runs would be all that the Owls would need, but they tacked on a single run in the fourth and two in the eighth on the way to the 7-3 win.
The Fighting Owls return to action on Friday when they wrap up MDJUCO regular-season competition with a 1:00 p.m. doubleheader at Allegany.
