PALATINE, Ill. – Ricky Janokowicz (Carol Stream, Ill., Glenbard North) gave up just two hits in eight solid innings while his offense scored in seven of their eight innings at bat as the Harper College baseball team defeated North Central College 10-2.
 
Janokowicz didn't allow an earned run and struck out seven on his way to his first victory this season.  The Cardinals pushed across two unearned runs in the opening inning but Janokowicz allowed only one hit the rest of the game.
 
Trailing by two runs, Harper (14-18, 3-3 N4C) set out to answer right away.  Nick Spagnola (Algonquin, Ill., Dundee-Crown) led off the home half of the first with a walk and moved up to second on a base hit from John Caravia (Norridge, Ill., Ridgewood).  A groundout moved up both runners into scoring position before Kevin Robinson (Schaumburg, Ill., Conant) delivered a run-scoring single.
 
Janokowicz retired the side in order in the second to get his team back on the attack and a one-out walk to Mark Sarti (Palatine, Ill., Palatine) led to another run when Spagnola and Caravia each singled.  Harper didn't score in the third and tallied an unearned run in the fourth before getting their offense going again in the fifth.
 
Caravia led off with another single and Connor McHugh (Hoffman Estates, Ill., Schaumburg) followed suit with a single of his own.  Caravia moved up on a flyball and eventually scored on a Nickolas Johnson (Chicago, Ill., Simeon) single.  McHugh scored on the next play when Brett Sklena (Skokie, Ill., Niles North) grounded out.
 
The Hawks broke the game wide open in the seventh with three runs to take a 9-2 lead.  Sklena and Anthony Colosimo (Lake Forest, Ill., Loyola Academy) walked to start the frame.  A double steal pushed one run across before Sarti drove in another with a base knock.  Spagnola then plated Sarti to cap the big inning.
 
Caravia went 3-for-3 while Spagnola continued his torrid stretch in the leadoff spot with three more hits.  Johnson also had two hits as every Hawk either scored a run or drove one in.
 
Harper plays another non-conference game on Wednesday as they travel to Morton.  First pitch is at 3:00 PM.