Grays Rally Late but Fall to Senators, 8–5

The DC Grays lost their second straight game, falling behind early before a late rally fell short. The Southern Maryland Senators beat the Grays 8–5 at Woodbridge High School. The loss dropped the Grays to 2–2 on the season.

Owen Basso (Lafayette) started on the mound for the Grays, and he didn't have his best stuff on the night. He gave up all eight runs in three innings and was tagged with the loss.

The DC bullpen kept things quiet, with Jace Szaflarski (Lock Haven), Andrew Ruggeri (Penn), and Anders Ahladas (Randolph Macon) combining for six scoreless innings.

The Senators jumped out to a 3–0 lead in the top of the first, stringing together a pair of singles and a double. The Grays went down in order in the bottom half. In the second, the Senators added another run on a sacrifice fly. The Grays responded in the bottom of the inning with a double down the third base line by Carter Jenkins (Nicholls State), followed by an RBI infield single from Joey Chitla (Wofford) to bring in the first run of the game.

The Senators broke the game open with a four-run third inning, taking advantage of walks, wild pitches, and well-placed hits. Noel Rivera (Marist) made a strong defensive play on the run to record the first out, but the inning snowballed as the Senators extended the lead to 8–1.

The scoring stayed quiet until the fifth, when Noel Rivera provided a spark with a solo home run to deep left — the Grays' first homer of the season — cutting the deficit to 8–2. DC loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth, but the threat ended abruptly when the Senators catcher picked off a runner at first.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Grays pieced together a final push. Ryan Soong (WASHU) led off with a bloop single to center, followed by a single from Andy Rivera (Holy Family). Carter Jenkins brought in a run with a groundout, and Rivera came around to score on a passed ball. Singles from Chitla and TJ Addonizio (Richmond) kept the momentum going, but a grounder to third ended the rally and the game.

The Grays now sit in third place in the South Division. They travel to Olney to face the Cropdusters at First Responder Field on Sunday, with first pitch set for 1:00 p.m.