Campus News

May 5th, 2026

Lakers to host Region 20 play-in

GC to play winner of Montgomery-AACC following Game 1 on Saturday

Garrett College has played its way into a host role in the NJCAA Division II Region 20 baseball play-in round.

The fourth-seeded Lakers (30-16 overall, 20-8 region) will host the winner between fifth-seeded Montgomery College and eighth-seeded Anne Arundel Community College at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Montgomery (27-18, 18-8) and AACC (25-24, 14-14) play an 1 p.m. contest at GC to determine the Lakers' opponent in the single-elimination play-in.

"It's always good when you have playoff games at home," said GC head coach Eric Hallenbeck. "We don't have to travel, and the other two teams have to play a nine-inning game before they play us. The two teams that play first have to use some [pitching] arms, where we have all of our arms ready for that second game of the day."

Garrett College has 26 sophomores, 21 of whom have played the last two seasons together. Over that time period, those sophomores have gone 66-35, setting a record for number of wins in two seasons.

"It's just a testament to those two-year sophomores," said Hallenbeck, who earlier this season earned his 500th coaching victory at Garrett College. "They've won a lot of games here. They believed in what we're doing as a program and they've worked really hard – and it's paying off."

Garrett split two games with both Montgomery and Anne Arundel during the regular season. In fact, the Lakers' split with AACC last Friday – both winning and losing games by 9-6 scores – helped GC squeeze into the host's role.

The Lakers also split a doubleheader with Cecil College over the weekend, claiming a 7-3 victory in last Saturday's opener and taking a 2-1 loss in the nightcap. GC started last week with a 14-12 win over Montgomery, building a 10-run lead and then holding off the Raptors to earn the win.

Regular-season champion Frederick Community College (33-12, 23-5) and runner-up CCBC-Essex (36-13, 22-6) earned the two automatic bids to next weekend's Region 20 Final Four. Hagerstown Community College (35-17, 21-7) will host this Saturday's second play-in, which will also include the College of Southern Maryland (20-22, 15-13) and Allegany College of Maryland (26-26, 15-13).

GC used a five-run fifth inning in the Anne Arundel opener to erase a 5-4 deficit as Sebastian Mayfield tied the game with a run-scoring double and Meyer Cabrera singled in the go-ahead run. Jesus Fermin then crashed a pinch-hit, three-run double to break the game open.

Mayfield and starting pitcher Bryce Madden each had a double, three hits, scored twice, and drove in a run. Ethan Earley also had a double.

Madden yielded five runs (three earned) on seven hits and five walks with three strikeouts in 4 1/3 innings. Keaton Walsh (2-0) earned the victory by holding AACC to a run on two hits with three strikeouts and two walks over 2 2/3 innings.

"That was a big win – you lose that one and then you start thinking, ‘We've still got to get two more wins and there are only three games left,' " said Hallenbeck, whose squad knew it needed two wins between Friday and Saturday to clinch home-field advantage.

Zach Davidson and Aiden Graham each homered for the Riverhawks in the opener.

Ryan Jones went 2-for-4 and drove in four runs as Anne Arundel won the nightcap. Earley had two of GC's eight hits while Madden and Noah Broadwater each drove in two runs in the defeat.

Jack Woods (2-0) went 6 1/3 innings to earn the win, permitting four runs on five hits with two walks and three strikeouts. Five GC pitchers combined to yield 11 hits and eight walks.

In the Cecil opener, Garrett built a 6-0 lead as Mayfield had two-run hits in the first and third innings, and Aiden Screen crushed a two-run homer in the third.

Gregory Eddy (2-3) spaced six hits over 5 1/3 innings with just one walk to earn the win.

Hunter Dakan took a 1-0 lead into the top of the seventh of the nightcap thanks to Broadwater's first-inning home run, but Hallenbeck pulled him after a leadoff hit in the seventh. The Seahawks (23-27, 11-15) then scored twice to win the game, handing Walsh his first loss. Walsh yielded one run on one hit in one inning.

"Hunter pitched a really good game, coming off a little arm discomfort," said Hallenbeck. "If he hadn't had the arm issue, I might have let him face another batter or two."

Ty Whittaker (5-2) held GC to three hits and an earned run with four strikeouts and just one walk. Cody Kunca had a hit and drove in one of the two Cecil runs.

Last Thursday, Broadwater homered, doubled, and drove in six runs as the Lakers took down Montgomery, 14-12. Parker Ferraro had two doubles while Cabrera homered.