OGLESBY, Ill. – The Harper College baseball team fell to Illinois Valley Community College (IVCC), 10-2, in a NJCAA Region IV Tournament Play-In game on Tuesday afternoon. With the loss, the Hawks have been eliminated from postseason play, ending their 2016 season.

Harper (2-33-1) quickly fell into a 3-0 hole after an inning. Eagles catcher Jordan Hernandez hit a two-run homer to left-center off Hawks starter Christian Poulsen (Schaumburg, Ill. /Schaumburg) (1-7). The Hawks tallied their first run of the game in the second inning on a two-out single by Nick Kouzios (Crystal Lake, Ill. /Prairie Ridge) that plated Poulsen.

However, IVCC continued hitting and scored one in the second and two runs in both the third and fourth innings to chase Poulsen and build a 8-1 lead. The Hawks scored one more run in the sixth inning off of Eagles starter Ross Weber on three straight singles from Branden Davis (/Rich East), Kouzios, and B.J. Wingerter (Prospect Heights, Ill. /Hersey). Illinois Valley ended the game with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.

Weber struck out 11 Harper batters, but the Hawks also had a season-high 12 hits. Poulsen, Davis, Kouzios, Wingerter, and Reaves all had two-hit efforts.

Illinois Valley Community College advances to the Region IV Sectionals at College of DuPage on Saturday and Sunday. The three-team sectional features Illinois Valley (No. 6 seed), No. 1 College of DuPage (38-13-2) and No. 4 Waubonsee Community College (30-16). The other sectional, the Joliet sectional, will feature No. 2 Joliet Junior College (29-27), No. 3 Rock Valley College (19-22-1), and No. 5 Milwaukee Area Technical College (7-27).