KANKAKEE, ILL. - After missing the NJCAA Division II World Series in 2016 following six straight appearances, the 20th-ranked Madison College baseball team came within seven outs of returning to Enid, Oklahoma, before falling 9-3 to sixth-ranked Kankakee Community College in a winner-take-all 2017 NJCAA Region IV Division II Championship Game on Tuesday. Heavy rains severely altered the tournament schedule, pushing the Friday-Saturday-Sunday format to a five-day affair. The #4-seeded WolfPack dropped their tournament opener, 9-1, to the host and top-seeded Cavaliers, but rebounded Sunday to defeat #2 McHenry County College 9-8 in 11 innings, #3 Black Hawk College by a 12-7 on Monday, and Kankakee in a 20-5 rout to force a game two of the championship series Tuesday.

Game #1: #1 Kankakee Community College 9, #4 Madison College 1 (7 innings)

With first pitch moved up three hours and then pushed back seven hours, neither team was able to generate much offense in the first three innings. The WolfPack missed a scoring chance in the third when freshman Tanner Umentum was stranded at second following a double, but were the first to dent the scoreboard in the fourth. Chris Lund reached on a two-out single down the third base line and advanced to second when Sage Bruhl drew a walk. Sophomore Kian O'Brien ripped a single to center that scored Lund from second.

Unfortunately, that would be the only run Madison College scored, and the 1-0 lead was gone by the next half inning. Starter Jack Eagan walked back-to-back Kankakee batters, then coughed up a three-run home run to the number seven hitter to put the 'Pack down a pair. A walk and three hits, including a two-RBI double, were key in another three-run frame in the fifth to make it a 6-1 differential and end Eagan's outing.

Kankakee separated themselves even further in the seventh. Branden Frank walked the leadoff batter before giving way to Riley Pelischek and an inning that spiraled out of control with a hit batter, a single, a walk, and two wild pitches that stretched the score to 9-1, ending the game via run rule.

Eagan (7-2) finished with six earned runs on four hits and three walks in his five innings on the hill. The Indiana University transfer struck out five batters, ending a string of three consecutive starts with double-digit K's.

The WolfPack tallied just three hits against Cavaliers pitching, with one each for Lund, O'Brien, and Umentum.

Game #2: #4 Madison College 9, #2 McHenry County College 8 (11 innings)

Playing in their first elimination game, Madison College and the tenth-ranked Scots (41-12-1) needed extra innings to decide whose season would continue. Trailing 8-5 after seven innings, the WolfPack rallied over the final two frames to pull even. In the eighth, freshman Logan Michaels led off the inning with a hit by pitch and scored four batters later when fellow first year Tanner Umentum hit a clutch two-out double to left. Centerfielder Kian O'Brien ripped a double of his own to begin the top of the ninth, advanced to third on a wild pitch, and crossed home thanks to Chris Lund's sacrifice fly. That play also moved Cade Bunnell into scoring position, and the Kansas State University transfer scored the tying run when Michaels powered a double to deep center.

Neither team added any offense in the tenth before Madison College loaded the bases to open the 11th. Bunnell and Michaels sandwiched singles around a walk of Lund, and second year first baseman Ty Jandrowski came through with a sacrifice fly to score Bunnell as the go-ahead run. Hank Schau finished out the win with a 1-2-3 bottom half.

The scoring started early with both team smashing two-run home runs. Madison College received its blast from team home run leader Cade Bunnell. Down 6-2 entering the sixth, Lund, a Stoughton, Wisconsin, native along with Bunnell, added his name to the home run tally sheet, belting a three shot to pull the 'Pack within a run. 

Three players, O'Brien, Bunnell, and Michaels, all collected three hits. Bunnell scored a team-leading four runs, while Lund posted a team-best four runs batted in.

Schau (6-2) earned the win in relief with four innings of shutout, one-hit baseball and three strikeouts. Sam Lund saw a streak of impressive starts end at nine with eight earned runs on eight hits and four walks during six innings. The Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, native had allowed a total of four earned runs in his last nine appearances since giving up eight in his season debut in Arizona.

Game #3: #4 Madison College 12, #3 Black Hawk College 7

The long balls kept flying in the WolfPack's second elimination game. Following a bottom of the first solo homer for the #12 Braves (37-10) of starter Branden Frank, Nick Blomgren handed Madison College the lead with a two-run bomb in the second.

Another BHC blast made it 7-2 after five innings, but the tournament's fourth seed used two deep shots to tie the game. Chris Lund socked a home run in a second straight game to make it a two-run game. Four batters later Blomgren smashed a two-run dinger to even the score at seven. Blomgren, a former Janesville Craig High School standout, enjoyed his first career multi-home run game and doubled his season total to four.

Madison College took the lead for good in the seventh on two singles and an error, and made it 10-7 in the eighth on Kian O'Brien's run-producing double. The final run tallies came via the home run ball with Ty Jandrowski posting a two-run HR, his first of the season.

The game featured 25 combined hits, highlighted by six home runs and four doubles. Blomgren and Jandrowski both posted three hits, with Blomgren leading the team and setting season-highs with four RBI and three runs scored.

Frank's final statline was five innings, eight hits, seven runs, six earned, two walks, and five strikeouts. Freshman righthander Connor Fedders (3-0) grabbed the win with two scoreless innings, before second year hurler Riley Pawelski was perfect through the final two innings to close out the WolfPack's run to the Region IV Tournament Championship. Fedders and Pawelski each struck out three batters.

Game #4: #4 Madison College 20, #1 Kankakee Community College 5

Winless through three games against the sixth-ranked Cavaliers, #20 Madison College made up for with a resounding effort to open the final series and force a winner-take-all situation. A bases loaded sacrifice fly from Logan Michaels opened the game's scoring in the first inning, but the WolfPack would soon fall behind 4-1 after four innings.

After Sage Bruhl's sacrifice fly brought the 'Pack within a pair, Cade Bunnell continued his power-hitting ways and tied the game with a two-run blast on the first pitch of the at-bat. More fireworks followed in the sixth, starting with a two-out, bases-loaded double from Sage Bruhl handed Madison College the lead for good. The next two pitches offered by the Cavaliers saw Kian O'Brien crush a three-run homer and Bunnell rip a solo shot, both to left field, to make it 10-4. O'Brien's long ball was his first of the season, while Bunnell has homered in four of the last eight games.

The offensive assault continued with a seven-run seventh keyed by shaky Cavaliers pitching. Following three straight singles to start the inning, WolfPack batters received three bases-loaded walks in addition to a pair of sac flies, a run-scoring single from O'Brien, and a Logan Michaels double that plated O'Brien. Three run-producing singles in the eighth handed Madison College its highest scoring output of the season.

O'Brien, a former Madison La Follette athlete, went 4-for-4 with six RBI and three runs scored, all season highs. Bunnell also posted four hits and three runs while driving in five. Bruhl had three hits, three runs scored, and four driven in. Drew Steinmetz led the procession across home plate with four runs scored.

Tanner Umentum (3-2) worked seven solid innings to earn his third win in his last four appearances. The Denmark, Wisconsin, native surrendered four runs, eight hits, and five walks with four K's. Darren Strasburg and Tyler Strzelczyk each worked a frame to close out the win and force one more game for the championship on Tuesday.

Game #5: #1 Kankakee Community College 9, #4 Madison College 3

Game two saw Madison College stake themselves to a 3-1 lead in the second. Ty Jandrowski coaxed a leadoff walk and Drew Steinmetz doubled to left, allowing freshman Garrett McGraw's single to right drive in the inning's first run, which tied the game. Two batters later Sage Bruhl ripped a two-bagger to give the WolfPack the lead, and McGraw raced in to score on a passed ball later in the inning.

The lead held up with left hander Jack Eagan on the bump, and in the seventh coach Mike Davenport turned to righty Hank Schau. An error by Ty Jandrowski at first base prolonged the inning and a single by the frame's fourth batter drove in the tying run.

Momentum had officially shifted, and Kankakee (48-10-1) never relinquished it. Four singles and a walk were part of a four-run eighth for the Cavaliers, who added two more runs for good measure in the top of the ninth en route to clinching the Region IV bid to the NJCAA Division II World Series.

Schau (6-3) was saddled with five runs, four of which were earned, on five hits in less than two innings of work as the Park Ridge, Ilinois, native took the loss in relief. Eagan, a native of Wautoma, Wisconsin, posted nine strikeouts and allowed two runs and four hits in his six innings.

Kian O'Brien, Logan Michaels, and Steinmetz all led the offense with two hits each. McGraw was the only player with both a run scored and one batted in.

The 2017 season ends with a 37-18 record and runner-up finishes in the North Central Community College Conference and Region IV Division II Tournament.



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