The Camden County College Cougars return home from their spring training trip to Myrtle Beach S.C. 7-3.
The Cougars had many ups and downs throughout the trip, but there are many standout players that had a spectacular week. Freshman pitcher, Christopher Garwood, returns home 2-0 with a 0.00 ERA. Garwood picked up his first college win against Paul D. Camp Community College on a March 10th as the Cougars shutout the Hurricanes 6-0. Garwood pitched 5 innings only allowing 1 hit while striking out 8. Christopher picked up his 2nd win of the season on March 15th against Genesee Community College. Garwood once again went 5 innings allowing 3 hits and striking out 7 as the Cougars shutout Genesee 9-0.
Other standout players returned home as well with very successful trips, such as sophomore outfielder Matt Jefferson. Jefferson is currently hitting .458 with 10 runs scored in 10 games. Matt has also stolen 6 bases and driven in 5 runs runs. Sophomore infielder, Dom Lopez Jr, also had a big trip as he returns home as the team RBI leader driving in 14 Cougars. Finally, freshman utility player and right handed pitcher, Chris Maldonado, hit his first collegiate home run on March 15th in a 8-7 loss to Mohawk Valley Community College, currently has an average of .333 while dribing in 7 Cougars. Chris was also dominant on the mound in Myrtle Beach as he picked up his 2nd win of the season against SUNY Adirondack on March 14th. Maldonado pitched a complete game only allowing two hits and striking out 8 Timber Wolves as the Cougars went on to win 11-1 on a walk-off ten rule grand slam by sophomore, Jimmy Sayles.
Coach Merkh had this to say about the trip. "This trip has been an annual occurance for our program since 2010. It's really a great opportunity to get a ton of baseball in, especially for young guys. Each year we learn what type of team we have as coaches and the players really seemed to come together this year. We faced some adversity and had some tough learning experiences at times, but I can't begin to say how proud I am of this group of guys. They showed up and fought for each other each game and I am very excited coming back home on what this team is going to do this year."
The Cougars now start conference play tomorrow as they head to Rowan College of Gloucester County for a double header to take on the Roadrunners in a cross town rivalry. First pitch is a 12:00pm. GO COUGARS!