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Box Score 3 Final Bracket-Joliet Sectional
Final Bracket-DuPage Sectional
JOLIET, Ill. – The Harper College baseball team played at the Region IV Sectionals hosted by top-seeded Joliet Junior College over the weekend. The Hawks defeated Rock Valley College on Saturday morning but saw their season come to an end with losses in two close ballgames against Joliet.
Harper College vs. Rock Valley College (Saturday, 9 AM)
In the sectional opener against the Golden Eagles, the Hawks smashed a season-high 17 hits and got a great pitching performance from Matt Ittersagen (Wheeler, Ind./Wheeler) in a 10-2 victory in eight innings
Trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Hawks broke through in a big way with five runs in the inning. With one out, Harper strung together seven straight hits and chased starting pitcher Zack Skwarek from the game.
The Hawks added two runs in the seventh inning to extend the lead to 8-2. Harper scored two more in the eighth on RBI singles from Kevin Conrad (Twin Lakes, Wis./Wilmot) and Tyler Crussen (Wheeler, Ind. /Wheeler) to end the game
Ittersagen (4-5) pitched his best game of the year as he allowed two runs on seven hits in eight innings of work. The sophomore threw 70 of his 96 pitches for strikes and struck out three batters.
Six Harper batters had multi-hit games, including three-hit efforts from Crussen (3-for-6, RBI), Chuck Terron (Tyrone, Ga./Sandy Creek) (3-for-5) and Kevin Conrad (Twin Lakes, Wis./Wilmot) (3-for-5, RBI).
Harper College vs. Joliet Junior College (Saturday, 12 PM)
It took 10 innings to decide a winner in the Saturday afternoon game between Harper and Joliet, with Joliet winning 3-2 on a sac fly in the bottom of the 10th inning. The Wolves loaded the bases with no outs on Harper's Austin Royse (Elgin, Ill./Larkin) (0-3), and Colten Trager hit a sacrifice fly to score T.J. Condon and end the game.
Harper initially jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a two-run single from Matt Hayes (Princeton, Ill./Princeton ) in the first inning. Joliet's Cam Bass hit a two-out, two-run single in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game at 2-2.
Hawks starting pitcher Chris Simon (La Grange, Ill./Marmion Academy) and Wolves starter Thomas Goodyear both settled into grooves after the initially damage. Goodyear lasted seven innings before giving way to reliever Trevor Maly (4-3), who pitched three innings of scoreless relief. Simon last eight innings, allowing just the two runs on eight hits while striking out four.
He worked out of two jams, the first being in the bottom of the sixth inning. After walking Jeff Duschene to load the bases with two outs, Simon got David Hill to fly out to left field to end the threat. In the eighth inning, Trager tripled with one out. The Hawks then thwarted a suicide squeeze attempt from Brennan Polcyn and tagged Trager out at home.
Harper managed six hits in the game, compared to 11 for Joliet.
Harper College vs. Joliet Junior College (Sunday, 1 PM)
Needing to beat Joliet twice on Sunday to secure a Region IV Sectional crown, the Hawks collected 10 hits but fell, 7-4, to the Wolves to end their season.
Joliet did most of its damage in a four-run third inning, and two of those runs came on a Hawks error. Harper scored three times in the fifth inning to close the gap to 4-3. Billy Chandler (Buffalo Grove, Ill. /Buffalo Grove) had an RBI groundout, and Terron and Roy Pettingill (Mount Prospect, Ill. /St. Viator) each had RBI singles. Joliet tallied a run in the sixth and Harper scored in the seventh to keep it a one-run game. However, the Wolves scored twice in the eighth inning and stopped a Hawks comeback attempt to preserve the victory and advance to the Region IV Finals.
Brandon Kaminski (Joliet, Ill./Joliet Catholic ) allowed three earned runs over seven frames and took the loss while Joliet starter Nick Lindemann (6-4) pitched 6 1/3 innings for the victory. Maly earned his fifth save of the year with an inning of scoreless relief.
Joliet (33-23) advances to the Region IV Finals at Schaumburg Boomers Stadium this weekend (May 15-17) and will face Illinois Valley Community College (33-17), the winner of the DuPage Sectional.
