Acm's Season Ends Against Frederick; Dropped Semifinal Game To Hagerstown

FREDERICK — Nick Falla did everything he could've to keep Allegany College's season alive, but the Trojan bats were unable to back him up.

ACM's season came to an end in Sunday's elimination game, falling 2-1 to top-seed Frederick.

"It was a battle again, playoff baseball," ACM head coach Mason Heyne said. "Good environment, two good teams. We had a heck of a year, so you can't look at the playoffs and winning more than one game as defining the season."

Falla pitched eight innings with six shutout frames to open the day.

In the first six innings, Falla retired the Cougars (47-10) in under 15 pitches.

"Like their coach said, he's kinda one of a kind," Heyne said of Falla, who's 1.33 ERA is fourth-best nationally. "The region hasn't had a guy like him in a long time. Kept his pitch count down a little bit, so it allowed him to go the whole time."

He finished with two runs on seven hits and a walk with six strikeouts.

"He said he felt good and this is my game," Heyne said of keeping Falla in. "When the best guy in the region says that, you're gonna roll with him."

Frederick's first run came in the bottom of the seventh on a ground ball single from William Gisriel.

In the eighth, Cooper Harris sent the first pitch he saw into left for a line drive single that drove in the eventual winning run.

Allegany's lone run came in the third inning on a sacrifice fly RBI from Joel Wise.

The Trojans left 10 runners on base including the bases loaded in the first.

"I think it's guys not making adjustments," Heyne said of the offense's inability to get a rally started. "Putting too much pressure on themselves. I talk about all the time, unwanted pressure and then they create problems that don't exist."

On what was initially ruled a balk to score the game's opening run, after a lengthy discussion between the umpires, the call was reversed.

The inning would quickly end on a flyout with the game still scoreless.

In Saturday's game against No. 3 Hagerstown, the Hawks (42-16) led from the start, and pulled away in the eighth for a 12-4 win.

"It was a bit of a grind, we had a good game plan as far as hitting approach goes," Heyne said. "We've seen that guy (Braden Manning) before. But I think some guys let the moment get to them. But it's ok, we learned a lot from that. Baseball's a tough game, there's a lot of ups and downs."

Leading 8-4 entering the eighth, Quinn Ilig and Hunter Finkerbinder singled for a run each while a wild pitch and passed ball each brought in another run.

Hagerstown scored the game's first six runs across three innings, scoring three in the third off doubles from Ethan Shimmel and Aidan Grudzinski and a single by Ilig.

After recording 12 hits in Friday's win over Frederick, the Trojans finished with only five on Saturday and had three across the first four innings.

"That's why baseball's a daily day," Heyne said. "You can go 4 for 4 one day and then 0 for 4 the next with four punchouts. It's one of those things, it's a grind. This time of the year, guys are tired, bodies are tired, that's where the mental stuff starts to come into play. Today, we had some mental lapses, but that's why tomorrow it's imperative we come back and regroup."

Allegany rallied in the fifth, scoring four runs off singles by Brandon Diaz-Valentin and Konner Pittman and a Dylan Adams sacrifice fly.

That was the Trojans best chance offensively, as ACM was retired within four batters across the final three frames.

"I brought them in and said we've got to will our way," Heyne said of the fifth. "That's kinda our thing, you have to go up there believing it's gonna happen. If you have any doubt, it probably won't. Those guys got hyped up for that inning."

Diaz-Valentin recorded two of the five Allegany hits while Carson Bradley (Mountain Ridge) earned three free passes.

The Trojans finished the season 34-25, surpassing 30 wins for the first time since 2011 under Steve Bazarnic.

"If you would've asked me at the beginning of the year, I never would've thought we'd win 30 games," Heyne said. "Just a testament to those guys and putting the work in. I'm gonna miss a bunch of them, but they're all gonna go and play somewhere after this, so we wish them the best. That's what they come here to do, move on and play. We're fortunate to be in a position to help them do that."