Dolphins get walk-off win

SHALLOTTE—You’ve heard of Mister October. Meet Mister February.

Brunswick Community College freshman Derek Cozzolino is quickly establishing a reputation as a clutch hitter for the first-year Dolphins.

On Sunday, Cozzolino had his second walk-off game-winning hit of the season in a 3-2 decision against visiting Cecil College. Through five innings, the Seahawks from North East, Md., held a 3-1 lead.

BCC (5-8) scored the tying run on a squeeze bunt by Goss Kendall in the sixth inning. With two outs in the seventh, Cozzolino singled to right field to drive in T.J. Overman from second base.

“It’s great. He’s a little guy. There’s two outs. They want to get him. They don’t want to go back to the top of the lineup, so the pressure’s on them to get him out,” said BCC coach Robbie Allen.

“All he’s got to do is stand in there and get ready to swing the bat because they’re not going to walk him. He gets the hit and we get the win and thank the Lord.”

The win was a big one after the Dolphins had lost two out of three games to Hagerstown (Md.) Community College in their weekend series at West Brunswick High School.

BCC won Saturday’s first game 4-1 behind the pitching of Kyle Harmon.

Kendall was 2-for-2 with a home run and two runs scored; Chris Eason was 2-for-3 with an RBI; Overman drove in two runs and Jeremy King doubled and scored a run.

In Saturday’s second game, Hagerstown’s Hawks scored nine runs in the second and third innings and posted a 10-5 win. Eason and Overman both went 2-for-4 for the Dolphins.

On Sunday, Hagerstown won the rubber game of the series 7-6.

Denver Nixon was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBIs; David Smeltzer was 2-for-4; Kendall hit a two-run homer and Charlie Gore had a solo shot for the Dolphins.

BCC dropped both ends of a doubleheader last Wednesday at Louisburg, falling 9-3 and 5-3. The Hurricanes opened the season ranked 30th in the National Junior College Athletic Association Division I poll.

In the first game, Cozzolino went 2-for-3 with a double and run scored; John Child had a double and Noah Hawkins had one hit and one RBI for the Dolphins.

Overman went 2-for-3 with two doubles and a run scored in the second game.

“We held our own. The second one we actually should have won. We just couldn’t get anybody across,” Allen said.

“We have some pretty good kids. We have kids that are talented. We’re just making mental mistakes that teams like Louisburg don’t make. We don’t have the big-time arms that they have, but our pitchers are battling and competing and using what God gave them and getting the job done.”

Three weeks into the season, Allen said he has noticed improvement but youth continues to be a factor.

“We can’t get the motor revved up and keep it there. We’re fired up one minute and the next minute we’re not because we’re not used to being on the field on these long days. That’s something that we’ve tried to talk to them about is we’ve got to get revved up and just keep it there. We can’t let it down. It’s a continuous battle when you’ve got all freshmen out there.

Feb. 20

Game 1 Summary

BCC 010 020 0—3 5 4

Louis. 252 000 X—9 10 0

Game 2 Summary

BCC 021 000 0—3 7 2

Louis. 050 000 X—5 4 0

Feb. 23

Game 1 Summary

Hager. 100 000 0—1 3 1

BCC 001 012 X—4 6 0

Game 2 Summary

Hager. 036 001 0—10 12 2

BCC 003 000 2—5 8 1

Feb. 24

Game 1 Summary

Hager. 040 101 001—7 9 1

BCC 002 001 102—6 10 3

Game 2 Summary

Cecil 000 110 0—2 8 0

BCC 100 001 1—3 8 2