MADISON, WISC. - Madison College baseball coach
Mike Davenport earned his 1,000th career junior coaching victory Sunday as part of a doubleheader sweep of Region 4 opponent McHenry County College at Robin Roberts Field. The 18-year coach of the WolfPack becomes the 43rd coach to reach that milestone in NJCAA history, and is now one of 14 active head coaches in NJCAA baseball to surpass 1,000 wins. Davenport boasts a .688 career winning percentage over 28 years, racking up 339 wins at Kishwaukee College from 1995-2004 and 662 with Madison College, where he took over in 2005.
"It has truly been a privilege to work with so many great assistant coaches and highly motived baseball players, and this is why we have been able to win a good number of games. I am proud to have been around so many great people and all have been a part of each and every win," said Davenport following the milestone victory. "I would like to thank Madison College in general, but specifically
Steve Hauser and all of the wonderful people in our Athletic Department, as well as Dr. Daniels and all of the administration for their unwavering support of our athletic programs and student-athletes. My biggest thank you goes to my wife, Christi, and my kids for support to allow me to spend so much time away so I can try to be an influence in growth and development of the lives of our players."
Over his junior college coaching career, Davenport has won 17 conference titles and guided 11 teams to national tournaments appearances. In 1999, he won the NJCAA Division II National Championship with the Kougars and was named the NJCAA Division II National Coach of the Year. At Madison College, Davenport has led the WolfPack to a dozen conference championships, 11 region titles, and ten NJCAA Division II College World Series, including a record six consecutive appearances from 2010 to 2015. The WolfPack have placed as high as third nationally on three separate occasions under his tutelage. The WolfPack have had 12 NJCAA All-Americans and 14 Major League Baseball draftees since Davenport took over the reigns of the program, as well as 88 all-conference and 62 all-region players. Within that group, three have been named the conference most valuable player and one the region player of the year, while three were Gold Glove winners and one named the NJCAA Defensive Player of the Year. The North Central Community College Conference has recognized Davenport as coach of the year seven times, and he's also earned Region 4 and Region 13 Coach of the Year accolades on 12 different occasions. He is the winningest coach in Madison College Athletics history.
"
Mike Davenport is obviously a highly successful coach with the teams he has coached, having won 1,000 junior college baseball games. He has achieved this milestone and earned this honor because of his extreme personal commitment and dedication to the process of engaging with young men in order to help them develop and achieve to the level of their ability," stated Madison College Director of Athletics
Steve Hauser. "Mike is a great teacher of the game and a tremendous baseball coach, but an even better person, role model, and mentor to the players he has the privilege of working with. He fully invests in each player's personal development and journey; he is a leader of young men and a teacher of "life". His players appreciate, trust, admire, and fully respect Coach D. Coach Davenport's players and teams compete with class, humility and respect; just like Coach Davenport. Servant, yet leader; proud, yet humble; fiercely competitive, yet respectful. Great teacher, great coach, great person…Coach D."
Game #1: #1 Madison College 7, McHenry County College 4
After the visiting Scots took a 2-0 lead in the third inning of the day's opening game, McHenry County College eventually handed it right back and more with a series of errors. Madison College pulled even in the home half with two runs of their own, the first coming on an RBI-triple from
Zach Storbakken. He then raced home on a dropped third strike and narrowly beat the throw back from first with a head-first slide under the tag.
Back-to-back errors in the first two at-bats of the fourth inning put the Pack ahead 3-2. Three batters later and with runners at second and third,
Gunnar Doyle produced a sacrifice fly to left that drove in
Gabe O'Brien.
Eli Kramer also tagged up on the play, and was awarded home when an errant throw to third was fielded in out of play by the pitcher backing up the play.
Both teams scored a single run in the fifth and sixth innings, with the WolfPack netting their fifth-inning run via an error and their sixth-inning score on
Brady Jurgella's bunt single that saw
Gabe Roessler race in from third.
Roessler finished 2 for 3 with two runs scored, and was the only player with multiple hits. Jurgella used his lone hit to drive in a team-high two runs, while Storbakken was the only player with a hit, a run scored, and a run driven in.
Left-hander
Jacob Wilde (3-1) earned the win with 5.1 innings of work and six strikeouts. The Waukesha, Wisconsin, native surrendered four earned runs on nine hits and a walk before turning the game over to
Luke Hansel for the final inning-and-two-thirds. Hansel, a product of Caledonia, Wisconsin, walked two and fanned one in facing seven batters en route to his second save of the season.
The game one win officially went down as win No. 1,000 for coach Davenport.
Game #2: #1 Madison College 4, McHenry County College 1
Madison College jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second game of the day, and was able to hold off the Scots for the three-run victory. A two-out double by
Brady Jurgella scored
Gunnar Doyle and
Zach Storbakken, and was followed by another McHenry County College (30-14) error that allowed a run to score.
After starter
Riley LeTourneau pitched out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the second, the WolfPack went up by four runs on a perfect sacrifice bunt from
Eli Kramer to plate
Carter Stebane, who led off with a double.
An error and two productive ground outs in the top of the fifth put MCC on the scoreboard. The Scots were threatening for more with two outs as a single and another WolfPack miscue put two runners on, however, reliever
Adrian Montilva induced an inning-ending ground out to second. Montilva also faced a bases loaded situation in the sixth with just one out, only to have the lead runner thrown out at home on a fielder's choice and the Scots' number three hitter line out to Kramer in right.
LeTourneau (1-0) was credited with his first win of the season after not allowing a hit or a run in two innings of work. He did walk three and strike out two before
Kellan Short came in for two innings of his own and was tagged for two hits and struck out one. Montilva's two innings featured one unearned run on two hits and a walk.
Spencer Buskager tossed a perfect seventh inning that included a strikeout to join
Luke Hansel for the team lead with two saves.
At the plate, Storbakken was the lone WolfPack bat to register more than one hit, going 2 for 3 with a run scored. Jurgella, a Menasha, Wisconsin, native, drove in a team-high two runs and scored another as he went 1 for 3.
Carter Stebane had a hit, two stolen bases, and a run scored.
Madison College is now 29-12-1 all-time against McHenry County College, and have won ten of the last 12 meetings.
Up Next:
Madison College (34-6) will begin the final week of the regular season with a neutral-site game against Carl Sandburg College (22-17) as a make-up to a postponed doubleheader on March 27. The two teams will meet at Duffy Bass Field on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois, with CSC playing as the home team. The WolfPack and Chargers also met on neutral turf back on April 10 when Madison College swept their Region 4 foe
7-2 and 5-2 in a pair of "home" games at Summit Credit Union Field in Sun Prairie. The Pack is 18-4 all-time and riding a six-game win streak against CSC. First pitch is at 4:00 p.m., and can be watched live with stats via the GameChanger app.
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