ENID, OKLA. - Neither came easy, but both ended with the desired result of a win. Second-seeded Madison College began the
2022 NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series with a 10-6 victory over #10-seed Mercer County Community College on Sunday, and followed with a 13-8 decision over third-seeded Heartland Community College in Monday's quarterfinals at
David Allen Memorial Ballpark. The WolfPack, who used big innings late in both wins, have won 47 of their 56 games to achieve their second-highest win total in program history, while also advancing to the national semifinals on Wednesday in the double-elimination tournament. It will be the program's sixth appearance in the final four since 2011.
2022 Tournament Bracket (PDF) |
2022 Tournament Results Page
Game #1: (2) Madison College 10, (10) Mercer County Community College 6
A first round bye allowed Madison College to wait and see who they would play in their tournament opener, which happened to be Mercer County Community College (NJ) after the Vikings defeated seventh-seeded Murray State College 15-6. The WolfPack then greeted MCCC with a bang in the first inning on Sunday. With two runners on and two out, outfielder
Brady Jurgella roped a double to left to score
Eli Kramer and
Jake Nelson. Two pitches later, first year designated hitter
Carter Stebane smashed a two-run home run to left to make it 4-0. The Pack would load the bases before the inning ended on a ground out.
Mercer County answered in the second with a lead-off solo homer off starter
Carson Fluno. Madison College made it 5-1 in the third when Stebane doubled to left, advanced to third on a balk, and scored when
Eduardo Saucedo grounded out to second. Fluno, however, found some trouble in the top of the fourth, issuing back-to-back bases-loaded walks to decrease the lead to 5-3. After the Pack again left three runners on, the Vikings made it 5-4 with a run on a
Luke Hansel wild pitch in the fifth inning. Another wild pitch in the sixth evened the score, and a run on a dropped third strike put MCCC on top 6-5.
The come-from-behind effort began in the seventh with a two-out single from
Gabe Roessler to plate Saucedo and once again tie the score. Then a four-run eighth inning gave the WolfPack the lead for good. With the bases loaded and one out, the Vikings issued walks to Saucedo and
Gabe O'Brien to force in two runs. Roessler then drove in Stebane with a single, and O'Brien crossed home on one last wild pitch to complete the scoring and the comeback.
Madison College outhit the Vikings by a 12-4 margin in a game that also saw 21 combined base on balls and three hit batters. Stebane, a Brillion, Wisconsin, native, was one of four Pack batters with two hits, as he finished 2 for 4 with two runs batted in and a season-high-tying three runs scored. His two extra base hits included his first collegiate homer.
Roessler and Jurgella also had two hits and two RBI, with the latter also scoring a run. Saucedo, a native of Oregon, Wisconsin, managed to drive in two runs and touch home once on two walks and an 0 for 2 effort at the plate.
On the hill, Fluno worked four innings and allowed three runs on two hits and six walks. He struck out six before turning the game over to Hansel, who issued three free passes and allowed one hit en route to giving up three runs, one of which was earned. He also fanned four in his 1.2 innings. Right-hander
Jett Thielke (9-2) entered for the final 3.1 innings to earn the win, striking out six batters and giving up just one hit while keeping the Vikings off the scoreboard.
It was the first-ever meeting between Madison College and Mercer County Community College (35-19).
Game #2: (2) Madison College 13, (10) Heartland Community College 8
The second-ever meeting at the NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series between Madison College and Heartland Community College, and ten years after a nine-run win for the WolfPack, the 2022 edition would come down to the final few innings. Back-to-back doubles to open the game put the Hawks ahead 1-0, and a run-scoring double-play ball two batters later put the Pack in a two-run hole early.
The first pitch in the bottom of the second got Madison College going as
Zach Storbakken, the team's home run leader for a second consecutive season, smashed a lead-off solo home run for his seventh of the year and 14th of his career. It moves him into a tie for eighth all-time in program history. The Sussex, Wisconsin, native delivered again in the third inning with a two-out single to left, brining in
Eli Kramer and making it 2-2.
Both teams scored in the fifth inning, with HCC netting two and Madison College seeing Kramer race home on a
Gunnar Doyle single. Trailing 4-3, the WolfPack jumped ahead in the sixth when Kramer produced a two-run double to scored
Eduardo Saucedo and
Carter Stebane.
The lead was short-lived, with the Hawks plating two unearned runs in the seventh to make it 6-5. A five-run home half changed the game, starting with yet another bases loaded walk of Saucedo to tie the score. After a Heartland error allowed Stebane to score and give the Pack a one-run lead, second baseman
Jake Nelson stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and drove a double right that cleared them for a 10-6 advantage.
More breathing room came in the eighth inning as another bases loaded situation ended with a three-RBI double, this time off the bat of
Gabe Roessler. The 13-6 differential helped after reliever
Adrian Montilva was unable to get the game's final out and allowed two runs to score before
Chris Byhre came in to finish the job.
Lead off hitter
Eli Kramer set the tone for the WolfPack, going 3 for 5 to lead a group of four batters with multiple hits. The native of Greenville, Wisconsin, scored three runs and drove in two more.
Roessler, a Rockton, Illinois, product, matched a career-best with four runs batted in. He was 2 for 5 with a run scored. Stebane, a fellow first year and middle infielder, touched home three times to tie Kramer for team-high honors.
Storbakken's hot start yielded two hits, two runs scored, and two runs driven in, while Nelson generated two hits and three RBI.
Starting pitcher
Jacob Wilde did not factor into the decision after five innings that ended with with four runs allowed on eight hits and five walks. Montilva, a former Madison East HS athlete, improved to 2-0 on the year with two earned runs on four hits and three walks over his 3.2 innings. The trio of arms recorded just one strikeout - it was by Montilva - and walked eight batters in the game.
Madison College is now 3-2 all-time and 2-0 in postseason meetings against Heartland Community College (49-9).
Up Next:
Madison College (47-9) will have a rematch with tenth-seeded Mercer County Community College (37-19), who advanced to Wednesday's semifinal with a 14-11 defeat of third-seeded Heartland Community College in an elimination game on Tuesday. The WolfPack will need one win reach the championship series, while the Vikings will need to secure two victories to move on. Madison College has never played in the NJCAA Division II Baseball World Series Championship, and has not played for a national title since completing a three-peat at the Division III level in 1997. First pitch on June 1 is set for 7:00 p.m. at
David Allen Memorial Ballpark in Enid, Oklahoma.
All games will stream live on the
NJCAA Network, with live stats of the Madison College games available via the GameChanger app.
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