PALATINE, ILL. - The Madison College baseball team had little trouble against North Central Community College Conference opponent Harper College as they earned a pair of resounding road wins Saturday. The WolfPack, ranked #20 in the NJCAA Division II Poll, routed the Hawks by scores of 20-2 and 16-6 to remain at the top of the league standings. On the day, the 'Pack produced 36 runs, 31 hits, 14 extra base hits, and three home runs.

Game #1: #20 Madison College 20, Harper College 2 (7 innings)

The day's opening game produced the season's highest hit total and second most runs. Of the 18 hits, seven went for extra bases and two left the yard. The WolfPack slowly pulled away as Gunnar Doyle doubled in a pair of runs in the first and Eli Kramer knocked in Kameron Laskowski in the third for a 3-0 lead. A two-run homer by freshman Logan Mantz jumpstarted a three-run third inning, which was followed by a single run in the fourth. Up 7-0, the visitors pushed across three more in the fifth with Zach Storbakken doubling in Nathan Ebersole, Jake Nelson scoring on a balk, and Storbakken touching the plate as a result of a productive ground out from Doyle.

Following two runs by the Hawks and a scoreless sixth for the WolfPack, Madison College plated ten runs on eight hits, two free passes, and two errors in the seventh. Eau Claire, Wisconsin, native Gabe O'Brien provided the biggest swing with a grand slam for his first career home run. Mantz, Jake Fulton, and Spencer Bartel also earned RBIs in the inning.

The top hitter of the game was Laskowski, with the former Sussex Hamilton HS athlete posting a career-best 4 for 5 with three runs scored. Mantz, a Slinger, Wisconsin, product, generated three hits, three runs, and three runs batted in to set or match a career-high effort in each category. The home run was the second of the season. Kramer finished with three hits, two runs, and a RBI, while Storbakken also had multiple hits with two and scored three runs and drove in another.

On the bump it was all Reagen Klawiter (3-1), who went all seven innings and held the Hawks to two unearned run on six hits and a walk. The Verona, Wisconsin, product and transfer from Illinois State University also established a career-high 13 strikeouts, which is the most by a Madison College pitcher this season. 

Game #2: #20 Madison College 16, Harper College 6 (7 innings)

Game two was more competitive as Madison College (26-8, 7-1) again took a 2-0 lead in the first when Logan Mantz followed a Brady Jurgella double with a two-bagger of his own to drive in Jurgella and Nathan Ebersole. Harper College (1-19-1, 0-7) hit a solo home run off starter Carson Fluno to keep within a run until the WolfPack put up a five-spot in the third to go ahead 7-1. After a walk and a wild pitch allowed the first two runs of the inning to score, Jake Fulton drove a double to center that added another two runs and Maguire Fitzgerald singled Fulton home to cap the frame. The day's second grand slam came in the fourth to bust the game wide open. Spencer Bartel hammered a pitch over the right field wall to clear the bases on his second long ball of the season. The 'Pack tacked on three runs in the sixth and two in the seventh.

Bartel, a native of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, drove in a career-high four runs with his lone hit, while Fulton registered three RBI and two runs scored on a hit and a walk. Eduardo Saucedo, a former Oregon HS athlete, had a team-high three runs scored and one driven in on a hit and two walks. Ebersole, Jurgella, Mantz, and Ben LaRonge each had two hits.

The WolfPack used four different arms in the win, with Fluno going three innings and not factoring in the decision. He allowed two runs, one of which was earned, on two hits and two walks, while striking out five. Justin Grosse (2-0) fanned six batters in his two-plus innings and surrendered just one hit and two walks as he earned the win. Dayne Louis and Ryan Hubley worked the final inning-and-a-third, with Louis allowing four runs on two hits and a pair of walks, and Hubley shutting out the Hawks and striking out two batters.

Madison College now owns wins in 15 of the last 16 meetings with Harper College, and is 21-5 all-time. 

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