ROCKFORD, Ill. – Scott Plaza (Arlington Heights, Ill., Prospect) threw his eighth consecutive complete game, tossing all seven innings of a 2-1 victory and help the Harper College baseball team earn a split in a N4C double-header with Rock Valley College.  The Golden Eagles won game two 5-3.
 
Plaza was his usual dominant self as he allowed only four hits, one of which was a sixth inning solo home run that set the final score at 2-1.  The right-hander struck out five while not walking anyone.  On the season, Plaza has struck out 56 hitters and walked only five.
 
Harper (19-21, 5-5) only had four hits themselves, but they made them count.  After managing only one baserunner in the first three innings, the Hawks pushed across both of their runs in the fourth.  John Caravia (Norridge, Ill., Ridgewood), who had half of the team's hits, and Dan Duran (Skokie, Ill., Niles West) began the frame with singles.  With one out, Connor McHugh (Hoffman Estates, Ill., Schaumburg) drove in the first run of the game with a single of his own, scoring Caravia and moving Duran to third.  A wild pitch plated the second run.
 
In game two, Harper scored early but were unable to sustain any offense in the loss.  Caravia reached on an error in the first and eventually scored on a double from Kevin Robinson (Schaumburg, Ill., Conant).  Anthony Colosimo (Lake Forest, Ill., Loyola Academy), the only Hawk with a multi-hit game, helped the Hawks extend the lead in the second with a leadoff double.  Mark Sarti (Palatine, Ill., Palatine) reached on an error to score Colosimo and moved up to second on a single from Nick Spagnola (Algonquin, Ill., Dundee-Crown).  Another error laoded the bases and Duran did his job with a RBI groundout to give Harper a 3-0 lead.
 
But it was downhill from there as Rock Valley (17-24, 4-6) scored the final five runs of the game.  Josh Daniels (Elk Grove, Ill., Elk Grove) suffered the loss, throwing all six innings while giving up ten hits and striking out three.