PALATINE, Ill. – The Harper College baseball team left little doubt as to who would emerge victorious on Wednesday afternoon as a ten-run first inning propelled the Hawks to a 21-7 win over Morton College.
 
The first six batters reached base for Harper (4-4) as 14 men in all came to the plate in the monster first inning.  Brett Sklena (Skokie, Ill., Niles North) started the merry-go-round with a single and after two errors coupled with a Dan Duran (Skokie, Ill., Niles West) base knock, Harper already led 3-0.  Andrew Skinner (Lyons, Ill., St. Joseph) got into the act with a RBI single and Connor McHugh (Hoffman Estates, Ill., Schaumburg) followed with a RBI double.  Later on, Sklena tripled to drive in Anthony Colosimo (Lake Forest, Ill., Loyola Academy) and Ryan Guthrie (Chillicothe, Ohio, Chillicothe).  Spagnola finally capped off the scoring rampage with a two-run homer to left.
 
The Hawks went down quietly in the second inning but put up four straight crooked numbers to eventually run-rule the Panthers in seven innings.  Every starter had at least one hit for Harper as the team cranked out a season-high 20 hits.  Sklena went 3-for-5 and scored four runs while Spagnola had three hits, drove in three and scored four times.  Skinner also plated three.
 
Harper continues its' seven-game homestand tomorrow against Oakton.  First pitch is at 3:00 PM.