CCBC Essex Pitcher Ryan Ready for Next Challenge

Eric Ryan was a freshman last year for CCBC Essex, but had enough nerve to ask his coaches on several occasions if David Williams could behind home plate when Ryan took the mound.

"He is just great. He and I have a great relationship," said Ryan, who loves throwing with Williams, an Eastern Tech graduate, as his catcher.

But it appears that after two years, Ryan and Williams will be on separate teams in 2012. Earlier this month Ryan, a Patapsco High graduate, signed a 70 percent athletic scholarship with Lenoir-Rhyne in Hickory, NC. Williams is looking at Shepherd, a Division II program in West Virginia.

Ryan threw his best game of the season on Wednesday against Frederick Community College, ranked No. 1 in the nation among Division II schools in the latest NJCAA poll. Ryan allowed just one unearned run midway through the game in a 1-0 loss.

"I would say that is the best performance I have seen all year from him," CCBC Essex coach Mike Carter told Patch on Thursday.

Ryan throws a two-seam fastball, changeup, slider and curve ball.

"I think my fastball is the best pitch," said Ryan, who has touched the low 90s with the pitch. "I just started using the slider this year. I feel I have a lot of room for improvement and going down to North Carolina will help."

Ryan learned the slider from teammate and fellow pitcher Blake Keiger and Chris Devlin, an assistant coach with the Knights.

"Chris does a great job. Eric used to be a two-pitch pitcher," Carter said.

Coming out of high school, Ryan considered attending Towson University since it has a strong athletic training program. But since he did not get a lot of interest from the Tigers, he wanted to play baseball in college and headed to CCBC Essex.

The Knights took a southern swing to North Carolina earlier this season, allowing coaches from Lenoir-Rhyne to see Ryan pitch.

Lenoir-Rhyne's head coach is Paul Knight, a former graduate assistant at the University of Richmond when the Spiders made the NCAA tournament in the 1990s. Lenoir-Rhyne appears to need some pitching help, as the team was 13-34 overall in games through Wednesday with a team ERA of 7.68.

Ryan said he has welcomed the chance to play this season at Essex for first-year head coach Carter, who was an assistant for the Knights in 2010.

"He is really easy to play for. He is a guy you want to play for," Ryan said.

In his first 36 innings this season, Ryan allowed 28 hits and 19 walks with 29 strikeouts. He was 2-4 with a 3.00 ERA. Nicolas Morton won five of his first six decisions for the Knights.

Ryan also hit .300 in his first 30 at-bats. CCBC Essex was led in RBIs at 16 by Mike Cleary (.321) and Omar Cordero (.299). Other leading hitters for the Knights include Matt Edwards (.364), Greg Myers (.359), Mike Romano (.318) and Williams (.280).

The Knights fell to 17-20 overall (11-13 in MD JUCO) following a 12-3 loss on Thursday against Harford Community College at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen. CCBC Essex is slated to host Baltimore City in a doubleheader on Friday and then host Salem in a doubleheader on Sunday. 

CCBC Essex is on the road to Waldorf to play Southern Maryland on Monday in a doubleheader at Regency Furniture Stadium, the home of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs of the independent Atlantic League. 

Men's Lacrosse Prepares for Post-Season

The nationally ranked men's lacrosse team improved to 11-2 overall with a 6-5 win over Monroe on Saturday in Rochester, NY.

Goalie Eric Biller had 13 saves for the Knights and Luke Phipps had three goals and one assist. Former Eastern Tech standout Travis Crane had two goals and one assist and Dixon Green, Ryan Arthur and Sam Chell also had an assist.

The Knights play on Saturday against Northern Virginia in Herndon, VA. The Region XX playoffs begin on Tuesday and the title game is May 8 at 1 p.m. at Essex. The Knights were runner-up in the national tournament last year.

Women's Lacrosse Face Woes

The women's lacrosse team fell to 0-11 with an 18-2 loss to Harford on Wednesday. The Knights were slated to end the regular season on Thursday against Howard Community College. While the Knights have a nationally ranked men's team, the women's lacrosse squad has had a rough year.

The second-year head coach is Kerri Kornobis. "It is a very hard job. She is working hard and making a lot of progress," Brian Farrell, director of athletics with the three CCBC schools, told Patch on Thursday. "It can take three to five years to build a junior college program."