AACC’s men’s baseball team has clinched a spot in the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 20 Division II Championship tournament, which begins on May 6.

The team will finish the regular season at Hagerstown Community College on May 3. The Riverhawks began the season with three losses against Surry Community College.

The season went well, according to baseball head coach Nick Hoffner.

“We’ve been playing better here recently,” Hoffner said. “So hopefully we can continue that trend as we finish up the regular season and then kind of get into the [regional] playoffs.”

The remaining regular season games will determine the team’s seeding for the regional tournament.

After regionals is the NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series in Enid, Oklahoma. AACC will advance to that tournament only if the team wins regionals.

Agustin Murillo, a second-year business administration student, agreed the season went well.

“I feel like our chemistry is already kind of there, even since the beginning of the season,” Murillo, a returning shortstop and second baseman, said. “Like, a bunch of the guys, we all get along, you know, we joke around, have fun, but we still … take the game serious[ly] and we push each other.”

Second-year business management student Evan Pohlman agreed, adding one of his favorite moments was being named NJCAA Division II Baseball Pitcher of the Week in late March.

Pohlman, a returning pitcher, earned the title after striking out a career-high 10 batters against Garrett College on March 22.

Murillo said he hopes the team keeps improving next season.

“We just got to keep going harder and harder,” Murillo said. “I mean, like, don’t give up. And we all got to have good mindsets when bad things happen. And just, you know, just keep going.”

“I don’t want to look forward to next season yet,” Hoffner said. “Because we just have too much left of this season. That’s my focus.”