BEL AIR, Md. — A historic outing on the mound and timely, inning-by-inning offense carried the Harford Fighting Owls to a doubleheader sweep of Lackawanna College on Sunday at the Harford Sports Complex. Harford closed the day with a dominant 12–0, five-inning victory in game two, highlighted by a perfect performance from starting pitcher Ben Christine, after rallying for a 6–2 win in game one.
Game 2 – Harford 12, Lackawanna 0 (5 innings)
Game two belonged to Christine, who authored a flawless performance in one of the most dominant outings of the season. The right-hander retired all 15 batters he faced and struck out 11, needing just five innings to complete the perfect game in the mercy-rule victory.
Christine set the tone immediately, striking out two in the first inning, and he never let up. He added two more strikeouts in the second and struck out the side in the third. With precise command and swing-and-miss stuff, Christine kept Lackawanna hitters from putting together any quality at-bats, finishing his outing by recording multiple strikeouts in four of the five innings.
"I felt good warming up in the bullpen," Christine said." I was hitting my spots and just getting a feel for things and working on staying nice and loose. I kind of just got into a rhythm and didn't really get out of it."
While Christine dominated on the mound, Harford's offense erupted early and never looked back.
The Fighting Owls (18-3) broke the game open with an eight-run first inning, capitalizing on both timely hitting and Lackawanna miscues. Jeremy Reyes ignited the rally with a leadoff single and later scored the game's first run on an RBI single from James Asmus. After a series of hit-by-pitches and wild pitches created chaos on the bases, Harford continued to take advantage.
Asmus added a second RBI in the inning, while Danny Scullion scored on a passed ball. Jaxon Kehoe reached on a fielder's choice that brought in another run, and Nathan Wingenroth later scored on a wild pitch. Reyes capped the inning with a two-run double, and Andrew Pedrick followed with an RBI double of his own as Harford surged to an 8–0 lead.
Harford added to its advantage in the second inning. Asmus led off with a ground-rule double and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly from Kehoe, extending the lead to 9–0.
After a scoreless third inning, the Fighting Owls delivered the decisive blow in the fourth. Scullion worked a leadoff walk and came around to score on an RBI single by Luke Keefer. Two batters later, Wingenroth put the game out of reach with a two-run home run, driving in Keefer and pushing the lead to 12–0.
With Christine maintaining perfection on the mound, the early offensive explosion proved more than enough. He closed out the fifth inning with ease, sealing the mercy-rule win and completing a perfect five-inning performance.
"We talk about [how to execute pitches] in team meetings and practices all the time," Christine said. "How we're setting up, how the catchers and pitchers are going to go about the game. [Andrew] Noone and I were on the same page the whole game today and had a lot of chemistry."
Game 1 – Harford 6, Lackawanna 2
The opener featured a slower start before Harford broke through with a decisive middle-inning rally.
After three scoreless innings, Lackawanna struck first in the fourth, using a two-run single and a defensive miscue to take a 2–0 lead.
Harford answered in the bottom of the fifth with a four-run inning to take control. The rally began when Derek Poole and Jack Fitzpatrick were both hit by pitches to put runners on base. After a fielder's choice, Scullion delivered a key RBI double to right-center, driving in Harford's first run.
AJ Palumbo followed with an RBI single to tie the game at 2–2. Moments later, Kehoe gave Harford the lead with an RBI single that also allowed another run to score on an error, making it 3–2.
Ty Mercado added a sacrifice fly later in the inning to bring home another run as the Fighting Owls surged ahead 4–2.
Harford continued to manufacture runs in the sixth inning. After Wingenroth entered as a pinch runner and advanced to third on a wild pitch and stolen base, Scullion lifted a sacrifice fly to score him and extend the lead to 5–2.
The Fighting Owls added one more insurance run through aggressive baserunning, while the pitching staff shut down any chance of a Lackawanna comeback over the final innings.
Harford pitchers combined to hold the Falcons scoreless over the final three frames, securing the 6–2 victory to open the doubleheader.
