MALTA, ILL. - Playing their first games back in the Midwest following the annual Arizona Spring Trip, the Madison College baseball team split a doubleheader at NJCAA Division I Kishwaukee College with a 9-1 win in the opener and a 1-0 loss in the nightcap. Freshman Nick Gile grabbed the offensive headlines with a four-RBI effort in game one, while pitchers Jack Eagan and Nate Brown combined for 20 strikeouts on the day. The doubleheader also marked a return home for head coach Mike Davenport, who played and coached for the Kougars prior to coming to Madison College.

Game #1: Madison College 9, Kishwaukee College 1 (7 innings)

Nick Gile led an offensive explosion with three hits, including a double and a home run, and four runs batted in as the WolfPack jumped all over the Kougars. Madison College grabbed the lead in the third inning on Logan Michaels solo home run, the first of the year for the sophomore and the fourth of his career. The 'Pack began to separate in the fourth with a pair of runs on a passed ball and a run-scoring single by Tanner Umentum. Gile's bat warmed up in the sixth, stroking a two-RBI double to left to make it a 5-0 lead. After the Kougars finally tallied a run against starter Jack Eagan, Madison College put the game on ice in the seventh with a four-run inning capped by a two-run homer over the left field wall by Gile. It's the second of the season for the Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, native, giving him the team lead in that category. 

The 'Pack racked up a dozen hits as both Gile and Garrett McGraw enjoyed three-hit performances, and Michaels finished with a 2 for 3 effort. Gile added two runs scored to his statline, while McGraw, a former Lodi HS athlete, crossed home a career-best three times and drove in one run. Michaels, from DeForest, Wisconsin, had two runs scored and one batted in.

Overshadowed by the big offensive output was the dominating effort of pitcher Jack Eagan (1-0). The sophomore from Wautoma, Wisconsin, set down a season-high 11 batters via strikeout and allowed one earned run on five hits to pick up his first win of the year in his third start. First year arm Brandon Komar worked a one-hit, one-walk inning without allowing a run to close out the win, the fifth straight for the WolfPack over the Kougars.

Game #2: Kishwaukee College 1, Madison College 0 (7 innings)

Game two was all about pitching, as the two teams combined for just one run and seven hits, while striking out a total of 20 times. Madison College sophomore Nate Brown, a native of Hartland, Wisconsin, and a University of Florida transfer, collected nine K's, but fell to 0-2 on the year. The righthander tossed six innings with three hits and one unearned run, which came in the fourth on a wild pitch breaking ball in the dirt . A similar scenario nearly played out with the next batter, however, catcher Logan Michaels was able to corral the loose ball and step on home plate to end the threat.

Offensively, Madison College's best chance to score came in the sixth when freshman Cam Cratic opened with a ground ball single and advanced from first to third on a wild pitch. The Madison East HS product was stranded there as the 'Pack failed to hit the ball out of the infield. The WolfPack outhit the Kougars, 4-3, with Garrett McGraw putting together a second straight multi-hit game going 2 for 3 to up his team-leading average to .400.

The WolfPack's seventh one-run loss of the season brings their all-time series lead against Kishwaukee to 32-22-1.

Up Next:

Madison College (4-8) hits the road this weekend for a Sunday, March 25 doubleheader at Moraine Valley Community College (6-8). The WolfPack swept two games with the Cyclones at home last spring to add to a 2010 victory that accounts for the entire series history between the two programs. Game one in Palos Hills, Illinois, is at noon, with the nightcap to follow at approximately 3:00 p.m.

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