SUMTER, S.C. - The Harford baseball team dropped the opening contest of the NJCAA Eastern District Championships to Spartanburg Methodist on Friday, 4-2. The Fighting Owls' potent offense was shut down by Pioneer ace Dylan Rogers in the loss.

Rogers set down 21 Fighting Owls in a row until a two-out walk in the bottom of the ninth. He scattered two hits in 8.2 innings before removing himself after the walk with an apparent injury. He fanned a season-high 12 batters and walked a pair to improve to 10-2 on the season.

The Fighting Owls scratched a pair of runs across in the second inning. Cody Brittain led off the frame with a triple over the centerfielder's head and scored on an RBI-groundout by Craig Joseph. Brandon Smith worked a two-out walk and scored from first on a Justin Malehorn rocket double to left center to give Harford a 2-0 lead.

The Pioneers answered back with a three-spot in the top of the third. Wesley Rogers singled to start things off and stole second. After a Matt White walk, Zach Shields lined a double to right to tie the score. Rogers scored on the hit and White touched home after a throwing error by the Fighting Owl rightfielder. Shields scored to give SMC the lead for good on a Collin Steagall sacrifice fly.

AJ Powell was the tough-luck loser on the day. He went the distance and pitched out of numerous jams. He worked out of a two-on, two-out fit in the fifth to keep it a one run game, and he stranded a leadoff triple in the sixth inning with three-straight groundball outs. Spartanburg Methodist added another in the seventh with a sacrifice fly but Powell left the bases loaded.

Rogers was the story, though, putting down 21 consecutive batters after Malehorn's second-inning double. Rob Koski snapped the string with a two-out walk in the final frame to bring the tying run to the plate and Brittain reached on an error to bring up the potential go-ahead run in Craig Joseph, but the Harford DH grounded out to end the threat.

The Fighting Owls will face the loser of the USC-Sumter/ASA game on Saturday at 12 p.m. Fans can listen live and follow along on live stats through these links.