FREDERICK — Garrett College’s offense led the Lakers all season, but it came out flat when it mattered most.
The No. 4 seed had two hits through seven innings, finishing with four in Saturday’s 9-3 championship game loss to No. 1 Frederick.
“It just seemed like nothing went our way,” Garrett manager Eric Hallenbeck said. “We squared some balls up, hit it right at them. They made great defensive plays. They got on us early, we had two or three chances and just didn’t get a big hit.”
The Lakers (33-18) were third in Region 20 in runs scored (460), fourth in hits (459) and tied for second in runs batted in (416).
On Saturday, Garrett stranded 12 runners and left at least one on in all but one inning.
The Lakers left the bases loaded in the seventh and two on in the final two frames.
“A little bit of bad luck, a little bit of good defense by them,” Hallenbeck said. “You combine the two, and you get four hits and three runs.”
The Cougars (36-13) scored two runs in four different innings and added one in the third.
Frederick left 10 runners on, but charged Garrett’s pitching staff with eight earned runs on 12 hits and seven walks with only one strikeout.
“Those guys can hit, one through nine they’re a tough out,” Hallenbeck said. “You gotta land some off-speed in fastball hitting counts. If you do, you have a chance. If you don’t, they’re gonna hunt fastballs and square some balls up.”
The Cougars led 7-1 after six innings before the Lakers loaded the bases in the seventh.
Garrett got the matchup it wanted, with Noah Broadwater (Keyser), the Region leader in hits (75), doubles (19), RBIs (88), batting average (.469) and slugging percentage (.863).
On a 3-1 pitch, he flied out to center to end the inning.
Broadwater joined Jesus Fermin, Matthew Firestone and Aiden Screen with a hit each for the Lakers.
“Broadwater can’t do it all by himself all the time,” Hallenbeck said. “We needed someone else to come through, and we didn’t get it done. That’s baseball, but no matter what the score was, we kept trying to get guys on. Trying to still compete, still grinding our at-bats out. That’s been the mark of this team all year.”
Frederick’s Colin Milligan struck out six across 6 2/3 innings of one-run ball.
Broadwater, Fermin and Hunter Dakan were named to the All-Tournament team after the game.
Broadwater combined for nine hits, 10 RBIs, three walks and three home runs.
Against CCBC Essex in an elimination game, he went 4 for 4 with seven RBIs and two home runs.
Fermin collected seven hits and eight RBIs with five runs driven in against Montgomery in the play-in game.
Dakan tossed 7 2/3 innings in the elimination game against Allegany.
He allowed three runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts.
Allegany College’s Ivan Sypa, Chris Fagot and Manuel Cartagena were also named to the All-Tournament team.
Sypa struck out the side in the upset win over No. 2 CCBC Essex, earning the save.
He went 6 1/3 innings against Frederick, striking out nine against three earned runs.
Fagot struck out 11 in eight shutout innings against Essex.
Cartagena combined for three hits and six RBIs, including a three-run homer against Garrett.
The Cougars advanced to the NJCAA Division II World Series and tied Grand Rapids for the second-most appearances at 11.
Garrett’s season came to an end, but not without some history.
The Lakers reached the Region 20 championship for the first time since 2004, and reached the Final Four for the first time in five years.
“I told these guys, 2026, this whole team’s gonna be remembered for years to come,” Hallenbeck said. “Not only are we runner-up, we won 30 something games. But all these guys are great people. They know it, I know it. And that’s why it hurts so much because this team will never be together again.”
The sophomore class won 69 games across the last two seasons, passing the 1976-77 class’s 65.
“Winning’s fun, but it’s also fun when you’re doing it with the right people,” Hallenbeck said. “We’re doing it with the right people. They graduated today, and we just found out the team GPA is 3.35. So successful in the classroom usually bodes out in the field in success as far as a person.”