MADISON, WISC. - Just five days removed from sweeping Elgin Community College in their final regular season doubleheader, Madison College opened up the postseason with a repeat performance on Friday at Robin Roberts Field. The top-seeded WolfPack eliminated the #8-seeded Spartans with wins of 8-2 and 12-1 to sweep the Region 4 Sectional Best-of-Three Series and advance to the 2022 NJCAA Region 4 Division II Baseball Tournament, which will be hosted by Madison College on May 19-21. The pair of wins give the WolfPack a 4-2 edge in postseason meetings and a 31-21 advantage in the all-time series.

Game #1: (1) Madison College 8, (8) Elgin Community College 2

After both teams left runners stranded in the opening two innings, they both broke through in the third. Elgin Community College used a two-out single off starter Jett Thielke to take a 1-0 lead. Madison College answered with five runs in the home half, using five hits, one walk, and an error. Eli Kramer drew a lead-off walk, then advanced to third on a two-base error by the Spartans pitcher on a pickoff attempt at first. Gabe Roessler followed with a single to right and the game was tied. Later in the inning it was Brady Jurgella, Jake Nelson, and Gabe O'Brien with three consecutive run-scoring hits to push the lead to 4-1. Another error in the inning came from the ECC shortstop on a ball hit by Eduardo Saucedo, and allowed Nelson to score to complete the big rally.

Both teams struck again in the fifth inning for one run each. Nelson opened the home half with a line drive triple to right field, but was stranded 90 feet from home until Saucedo came through with a two-out single up the middle. The Pack put the game out of reach in the seventh with a RBI single from Jake Fulton to plate Nelson. Fulton would later score on Kramer's single through the right side.

The two teams combined for 25 hits in the game, and four WolfPack batters racked up multiple hits as all nine batters in the lineup had at least one. Nelson, an Altoona, Wisconsin, native, matched a season-high three runs scored and drove in another as part of a 2 for 4 day at the plate. Kramer, a native of Greenville, Wisconsin, also was 2 for 4 with a run scored and one batted in. O'Brien and Saucedo each generated two hits and a run batted in. Jurgella and Fulton both tallied a hit, a run, and a RBI.

Thielke (8-1) tossed five innings and held the Spartans to two runs on seven hits and two hit batters. The Green Bay, Wisconsin, native struck out four before handing over the reigns to Alex Hayes for the final four innings. Hayes scattered five hits and walked one, while also striking out three en route to not allowing a single run.

Game #2: (1) Madison College 12, (8) Elgin Community College 1 (5 innings)

Two big innings in the second game gave Madison College the series win in a shortened clincher. The game's first 16 batters were retired in order until Carter Stebane drew a one-out walk in the third inning, and two batters later, Eli Kramer doubled to center to plate Luke Hansel for a 1-0 lead. Gabe Roessler followed with an opposite field double to score Kramer, and Gunnar Doyle's single up the middle made it 3-0 as Roessler touched home.

A monster nine-run fourth inning completely put the game in favor of Madison College. Three consecutive singled filled the bases, and a fourth straight from Stebane drove in a run. A two-run double from Kramer preceded a pair of walks that again loaded the bases. Two singles sandwiched around a walk resulted in four more runs to make it 11-0. Zach Storbakken, Brady Jurgella, and Jake Nelson all picked up at least one RBI in the stretch, with Nelson getting two. An error at first tacked on the final run of the game. Elgin Community College (23-21) was able to score a run in the fifth before the game ended in a run-rule.

The WolfPack outhit the Spartans by a 10-2 margin, led by two-hit games from Kramer and Nelson. Kramer finished a very successful day with two hits, two runs scored, and his third three-RBI game of the season. Nelson's big day ended with a pair of base knocks, two runs batted in, and one scored. Roessler and Jurgella each posted one hit, one run driven in, and two runs scored.

Pitcher Eli Hoyt (5-1), a right-hander from Waukesha, Wisconsin, earned his fifth win by holding ECC to one unearned run on just two hits and a walk. He fanned five for his fifth outing with at least that many K's. 

Up Next:

Madison College (41-8), which dropped to #3 in the NJCAA Division II Poll earlier in the week, will host the four-team 2022 NJCAA Region 4 Division II Baseball Tournament at Robin Roberts Field this coming Thursday-Saturday, May 19-21. It marks the third consecutive time the WolfPack have hosted the event, which will open with the #1 seed taking on #4-seeded Black Hawk College (34-18) at 9:00 a.m. Madison College swept the Braves in Madison on April 21, and are 23-13 all-time against BHC. Thursday's game will mark the seventh postseason meetings between the two program, with the Pack owning a 5-1 edge after last year's 6-2 win in the Region 4 Championship. The second game will start at noon and pits (3) McHenry County College (38-16) against (2) Kankakee Community College (43-15). All games will stream live at MadisonCollege.tv, with live stats of the Madison College games available via the GameChanger app.



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