MADISON, WISC. - After missing out on Saturday's nine-inning affair with College of Lake County due to rain, the Madison College baseball team was ready to play in taking a pair of games against Carl Sandburg College on Sunday at Robin Roberts Field. The WolfPack sweated out a 3-1 victory in the opener before exploding for a 17-0 beat down in five innings in the nightcap.
Game #1: Madison College 3, Carl Sandburg College 1
A pitcher's duel opened the day's doubleheader as righthander
Sam Lund went pitch-for-pitch with the opposition. Lund found himself throwing with the lead after two innings thanks to some manufactured offense.
Nate Schmidt led off the bottom of the second with a single to right before advancing a base on a sacrifice bunt and a groundout to the right side. Freshman
Bryce Plate then came through with timely hitting, singling to left to score Schmidt from third and giving the WolfPack a 1-0 lead.
Two innings later, fellow first year
Kian O'Brien made the Chargers pay for a lead off walk. O'Brien, standing at second after a Schmidt sac bunt, rounded third and scored when redshirt sophomore
Ryan Makuski hit a ground ball to second that was misplayed by the SCS infield for a 2-0 lead.
The final insurance run came in the bottom of the sixth when O'Brien, a product of Madison La Follette HS, smashed his second career home run. The solo shot to center with two outs put the home team ahead 3-0.
Meanwhile,
Sam Lund (4-3) was cruising along, having allowed just one hit in the first inning and retiring 17 consecutive going into the seventh. An error by O'Brien at shortstop put the lead runner aboard at second, and after a pair of groundouts, the runner scored on a single to to right. In the end, Lund allowed one unearned run on three hits in his seven innings. The Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, native struck out five en route to his third consecutive victory. During that stretch, Lund has allowed just two earned runs and 11 hits while striking out 19 batters over 19 plus innings of work.
Game #2: Madison College 17, Carl Sandburg College 0 (5 innings)
The second contest was all about the offense, as Madison College erupted for 17 runs and 15 hits to match their second highest run total this season. The five-inning win is the WolfPack's eighth win via run rule this season.
The scoring opened in the first with
Kian O'Brien driving in
Nick Kanavas on a single to center after Kanavas began the game with a double to right.
The WolfPack made it 6-0 in teh second on four hits and an error. That inning saw RBI hits by
Chris Lund, Kanavas, and O'Brien, who drove in two runs with a double to center.
Bryce Plate added a sacrifice fly.
The long ball played a huge role in the five-run third inning. With the bases loaded and one out,
Tanner Van De Hey singled to left to bring in
Carson Carmody. Then Kanavas cleared the bases with the season's first grand slam, a home run to left that pushed the lead to 11. The sophomore from Brookfield, Wisconsin, leads the team with four homers, as well as in hits and slugging percentage. He sits one RBI back of
Chris Lund for the team lead.
The game got way out of hand in the fourth as Madison College made it 17-0 with five hits and six runs scored.
Drew Steinmetz, Kanavas,
Alex Mayer, and O'Brien all tallied run scoring hits in the inning.
Kanavas finished the game going 4-for-4 with four runs scored and six driven in, setting or matching season-high's in all three categories. For the day,
Kian O'Brien was 4-for-6, including three extra base hits, with five RBI and two runs scored.
As for the work on the mound, starter
Hank Schau (3-1) picked up the win, his second straight. The freshman righthander scattered three hits and struck out one batter in three innings of work.
Dominick Golubiewski,
Clayton Uselman, and
Theo Denlinger contributed to the remainder of the game. Golubiewski tossed a scored fourth, while Uselman and Denlinger combined for a five batter fifth frame against Carl Sandburg (18-28).
Madison College (24-20-1) will next travel to Crystal Lake, Illinois, for a Tuesday doubleheader against #14 McHenry County College (36-10). First pitch is at 2:00 p.m.
