HAGERSTOWN, Md. - After a tremendous showing in the Region 20 Division I Tournament this weekend, the Harford baseball team eventually fell in the championship game to the Monroe Mustangs, 15-8, Sunday afternoon inside the Hagerstown Municipal Stadium.

The No. 3 seed Mustangs scored seven unanswered runs in two innings, including a six-run second. Braydon Parr finally picked up No. 4 Harford's first two runs of the game in the third, rocketing a pitch to left center for a double.

Another run from Monroe in the bottom half of the frame made it 8-2 in favor of the Mustangs, but Harford came out swinging with its best inning in the top of the fourth. The Fighting Owls picked up three runs on four hits before being retired, headlined by a two-RBI double via Andrew Sicinski and Reyce Curnane's single to left that plated one.

Despite planting runners on base, Harford was held scoreless from the fifth inning until the top of the ninth. Poor base running led to an untimely exit in the fifth, then the Fighting Owls stranded two runners in the sixth and seventh. Sicinski reached on a one-out single in the eighth, but a double play sat down the men in blue one batter later. Monroe's bats scored seven more unanswered runs over the same time period.

Down to their last three outs and trailing 15-5, the Fighting Owls battled to extend the game. Reyce Curnane led off the inning with a monster solo shot to center to make it 15-6, then a one-out grounder a few batters later by Joe Quelch put the deficit at 15-7. A two-out single by Ajay Sczepkowski brought up Blake Mayberry, who pounded through a single up the middle that scored Quelch. Harford was finally halted two batters later on a flyout to center, signaling the end of the Fighting Owls 2021 campaign.

Although Monroe's victory earned them the tournament championship and the bid to districts, the Mustangs are a Region 15 team and cannot be crowned Region 20 champions. Therefore, Harford's defeat of Potomac State on Saturday left the Fighting Owls as the last true Region 20 team alive and crowns them as the Region 20 champions.

Harford finishes the year 27-11-1.

Scoring Summary: Click Here

Box Score Highlights

• Curnane, Sicinski and Parr were named to the Region 20 All-Tournament Team
• Curnane and Sicinski led Harford at the plate with two hits and RBI each
• Quelch (1 RBI), Sczepkowski and Mayberry (1 RBI) also finished with two hits apiece
• Parr ended with a double and two RBI
• Zane Grimes (1-3) was pinned with the loss, striking out one batter in 1 1/3
• Connor Blantz finished the game with a scoreless 2/3 of an inning out of the pen

For more information about the Harford Fighting Owls, visit http://harfordathletics.com or follow us on social media: Facebook (Harford Athletics), Twitter and Instagram (@FightingOwlsHCC).