PALATINE, Ill. – The Harper College baseball team suffered two narrow losses to Rock Valley College on Friday before splitting a two-game set with Triton College at home.

Game 1 (Friday, 12 PM)-Rock Valley College 3, Harper College 2

The Hawks got a solid pitching performance from Eric Orozco (Melrose Park, Ill./Immaculate Conception) (0-2), who surrendered just two earned runs on four hits in six innings. However, the offense managed just two hits in the game, coming off the bats of Roy Pettingill (Mount Prospect, Ill. /St. Viator) and Jake Miller (Valparaiso, Ind. /Valparaiso ).

The Golden Eagles plated all three of their runs in the second. Two came on a two-run error, and the third came on a Keegan Mickey RBI single to center field.

Trailing 3-1 in the seventh inning, Andrew Haney (Milton, Wis. /Milton)'s RBI groundout made it 3-2. With two outs, Tyler Crussen (Wheeler, Ind. /Wheeler) reached on an error but was caught stealing to end the game.

Game 2 (Friday, 2:30 PM)-Rock Valley College 6, Harper College 4

Harper got off to a promising start with two runs in the first inning. Rock Valley answered with three runs in the bottom half to take the lead, and they padded the lead with two more runs in the third inning and one in the fifth.

In their last at-bats, the Hawks scored twice but could not complete the comeback. Ryan Nudd (South Elgin, Ill./St. Edwards) led the Harper offense by going 2-for-4 with an RBI. Brad Demmon (Schaumburg, Ill. /Hoffman Estates) (0-1) gave up two earned runs over five innings and took the loss.

Game 1 (Saturday, 12 PM)-Triton College 14, Harper College 10

Game one featured 27 hits between the two teams. The Hawks lead 10-8 after four innings, but the Trojans scored six times over the final three frames to pull out the victory.

Harper's big offensive innings came in the first (three runs) and third (five runs). The first inning featured an RBI double off the bat of Riley Halter (South Elgin, Ill. /South Elgin) and an RBI single from designated hitter Matt Hayes (Princeton, Ill./Princeton ).

The Hawks fell behind 8-3 but tied the game at 8-8 with a big five-run third inning, capped off by a Nick Leone (Elmhurst, Ill. /York) two-out two-run double.  Kevin Conrad (Twin Lakes, Wis./Wilmot)'s sac fly in the bottom of the fourth gave the home team a 9-8 lead, and they added one more run to make it 10-8.

Triton scored in the top of the fifth on a Danny Oliveri RBI double, and they scored four times off Harper's Brandon Kaminski (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic ) in the sixth , including the go-ahead knock by Trayvon Johnson, to take a 13-10 lead. The Trojans added another insurance run in the seventh and shut down the Harper bats in the bottom half of the inning to seal the win.

Kaminski (0-3) surrendered five runs (two earned) over four innings and took the loss. For Harper, Nudd was 2-for-4 with two RBIs and a stolen base while Hayes went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two stolen bases.

Game 2 (Saturday, 2:30 PM)-Harper College 10, Triton College 9

The Hawks snapped a six-game losing skid in walk-off fashion, as Frank Diaz (Lockport, Ill. /Lockport)'s single to center field plated Ryan Nudd (South Elgin, Ill./St. Edwards) for the victory.

Harper trailed 9-7 in the sixth inning and scored twice to tie the game up. Chuck Terron (Tyrone, Ga./Sandy Creek) scored on a passed ball with two outs to make it 9-9. After Nate Paprota (Plainfield, Ill./Plainfield Central) pitched a scoreless seventh inning, Nudd led off the bottom half with a double. He advanced to third on a Nick Leone (Elmhurst, Ill. /York) single and scored on Diaz's hit.

The Hawks prevailed despite committing five errors .

Paprota pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief for his second win of 2015. The Hawk bats put together another strong showing with 14 hits, led by Terron (3-for-4, triple, two RBIs, two runs). Miller, Nudd, and Leone also produced multi-hit games. The Hawks prevailed despite committing five errors.

Up Next

Harper (4-11) is scheduled to play eight games this week, starting with a doubleheader Tuesday at 2:30 PM against the Judson University JV squad. The Hawks then host Morton College for one nine-inning game on Thursday at 3 PM, followed by a double dip at Black Hawk College-Moline on Friday beginning at 2 PM.

Over the weekend, the Hawks will resume conference play by hosting College of DuPage on Saturday beginning at noon. The team wraps up the weekend with another home twin bill against Milwaukee Area Technical College.