Bel Air, Md. - The Monroe College baseball team fell to Harford, 13-8, today in a game delayed two hours due to inclement weather. The team is now 1-1 in the championship and will play an elimination game tonight.
 
The Mustangs found themselves in familiar territory after the first inning as they trailed 1-0. The win over Pitt Community College on Friday marked the tenth come-from-behind victory of the season. Monroe would have to do it again on Saturday.
 
In the first, Isaiah Torres hit a base hit up the middle. Alex De La Cruz continued his hot hitting with a bloop single to right. After a fielder's choice off the bat of Endy Villalona, Ronald Jackson came to bat. Jackson moved up from eighth in the lineup due to his three-hit performance in game one yesterday. He fouled off a couple of pitches, but hit into a force out at second. Monroe got a pair of hits, but failed to score in the first.
 
Osvaldo Duran took the mound looking to put Monroe into the championship game on Sunday. He retired the first two batters of the inning before there was a solo shot to left followed by a line-drive single to center. Harford led 1-0 after an inning.
 
Monroe got another runner on base in the second inning when John Russo reached on an error. Two batters later, Lewis Gonzalez ripped a grounder through the right side for a base hit. With Michael Ramirez at bat, a pickoff throw to first got away and Russo and Gonzalez moved to second and third. After Ramirez flied out, Ramger Iglesias tied the game with a grounder back up the middle to second. Russo came in to score and Gonzalez moved to third.  
 
The inning ended when another pickoff throw to first was wide of the bag. Gonzalez broke for the plate, but was gunned down on a very close play. The game was tied at 1-1.
 
Duran settled down after a rocky first, retiring the Fighting Owls in order in the second en route to getting six of the next seven batters. De La Cruz continued his torrid pace at the plate in the third inning, putting a grounder past the shortstop for a base hit. That gave De La Cruz six hits in seven at-bats. After De La Cruz stole second, Jackson moved him to third on an infield single. From there, Russo gave the Mustangs a 2-1 lead with an RBI single to right. On the play, Jackson was thrown out trying to go first-to-third.
 
Duran ran into some trouble in the fourth. With one out and a runner on first, who reached on an error, the pitcher surrendered a two-run homer and Harford regained the lead at 3-2.  But their lead wouldn't last long.
 
In the top of the fifth, De La Cruz answered with a two-run-shot of his own. The homer was his seventh hit of the series and put the Mustangs ahead, 4-3. It was De La Cruz's third hit of the game and fifth round tripper of the season. Two batters later, Jackson placed a double to the wall in right. It was his second hit of the game.
 
The lead evaporated in the bottom of the fifth when Harford's batter blasted his second homerun of the game. The two-run-shot put the Fighting Owls up, 5-4. Later in the inning, a walk, a stolen base and a timely single made the score 6-4, Harford.
 
A plethora of relievers came in from there, but to no avail. The Fighting Owls plated three in the sixth and four in the seventh to put the game away. Monroe didn't go quietly, however, as the Mustangs managed three runs in the seventh and another in the ninth.
 
The runs in the seventh came on hits from Ramger Iglesias, Torres and Villalona and a ground out from Russo. The score in the ninth resulted from a Villalona double. The final score was 13-8, Harford.
 
Despite the loss, Monroe outhit the Fighting Owls 14 to 13. De La Cruz had four hits for the second straight game and is now 8-10 in the championship. Osvaldo Duran was tagged with the loss. The Mustangs now move into the loser's bracket and will face the winner of Spartanburg Methodist and Pitt Community College in an elimination game later tonight.