JOLIET, ILL. - The North Central Community College Conference baseball title was decided Friday with a doubleheader between the two team left in contention, however, for two-time defending champion Madison College, a split with Joliet Junior College gave the latter the 2022 crown. The Wolves, ranked #10 in the NJCAA Division III Poll, won the opener 2-0 to earn the top spot in the league standings for the first time since 2010, while the #1-ranked WolfPack stormed back for a 10-0 blanking in five innings. The Pack had won the previous two league titles in 2021 and 2019 to cap a run of seven in ten years, and still boasts a 39-20 lead in the all-time series. The win in the finale also pushed head coach Mike Davenport closer to 1,000 career collegiate victories as he sat one away at 999.

Game #1: #10 Joliet Junior College 2, #1 Madison College 0

Coming off back-to-back losses at College of Lake County three days earlier, the WolfPack bats were unable to wake up and generated just six hits en route to their first three-game losing streak of the season. Madison College produced two singles in the second inning and had the bases loaded in the third on a hit, a walk, and an error, but were unable to capitalize on either situation.

The top of the fifth brought yet another scoring opportunity with Zach Storbakken following a Gunnar Doyle singe with a double. Brady Jurgella then struck out and Jake Nelson lined out to right field to again end the threat. The Joliet Junior College bats had been limited to two hits through four innings by Jett Thielke. In the fifth, they added three more hits, which yielded two runs. Neither team registered more than a single hit or base runner the rest of the game.

Thielke (6-1) ended a streak of six straight starts with a win in taking his first loss of the season. The right-hander from Green Bay, Wisconsin, struck out four and walked one in his six innings on the bump, while allowing two earned runs on seven hits.

The offense was led by freshman shortstop Gabe Roessler with two hits, including a double. Four other batters also produced a hit as the Pack was blanked for just the second time all season.

Game #2: #1 Madison College 10, #10 Joliet Junior College 0 (5 innings)

Game two finally brought a resurgence to the Madison College (32-6, 8-2) offense, with ten runs on ten hits to earn the team's 11th run-ruled victory in 2022. The production began immediately with a lead off single by Eli Kramer and a double from Gabe Roessler, putting a runner on third for Gunnar Doyle's ground out to the right side for a 1-0 lead. After a one-out walk put two runners on again, centerfielder Brady Jurgella cleared them all with a double to center.

Four runs in the second put the game in the WolfPack's control. Kramer again led off with a single, and raced around to score from first as Roessler drove a triple to the right field wall. An error on Gunnar Doyle's grounder to the left side allowed Roessler to come home, and Zach Storbakken generated the team's second run-scoring three-bagger of the inning to plate Doyle. Storbakken would eventually score on a groundout by Jurgella to make it 7-0. 

Another three-spot in the third inning put the visitor in position to end the game early against  Joliet Junior College (30-18, 9-1). Three consecutive singles to open the frame loaded the bases for first baseman Gunnar Doyle, who responded with a double to deep center to bring all three runs in.

Doyle, a native of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, set a new season high and matched a career best with five runs batted in. He finished 1 for 4 with a run scored.

Kramer, a product of Hortonville HS, and Roessler, a Rockton, Illinois, native, each went 3 for 4 with three runs scored, with Roessler also driving in a run. For Kramer, it was his fifth three-hit game and second three-run effort, however, it was his first with both. Roessler fell a hit shy of his career-high, and it was his fourth time with three touches of home.

Not to be out-done, right-hander Carson Fluno fanned a season-best seven hitters and held the Wolves without a run on three hits and four walks in his five-inning complete game. He is now 3-0 on the season through six appearances.

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