MADISON, WISC. - Two of the top baseball teams in Region 4 went to battle Sunday in a twin bill at Robin Roberts Field, and each came away with a shutout victory. Madison College, ranked #17 in the NJCAA Division II Poll, took the opener 8-0 behind a career-best effort by sophomore pitcher Michael Carpenter, and Black Hawk College, who is receiving votes in the same poll, answered with a 6-0 decision in the finale. The split leaves the all-time series at 27-15 in favor of the Pack.

Game #1: #17 Madison College 8, Black Hawk College 0

Michael Carpenter recorded his first strikeout with the second out of the second inning against the Braves, and followed with K's on three of the next four batters. The lefthander from Hartland, Wisconsin, kept chugging along until striking out the side in order in the top of the seventh to close out a complete game effort with 11 strikeouts. It's the second double-digit strikeout game of Carpenter's career and the second by a WolfPack pitcher this season. Carpenter improves to 4-2 on the season after holding BHC to one hit and a walk over seven innings.

Offensively, Madison College took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first when sophomore Payton Frehner followed a pair of singles with a two-out double to right that scored Jalen Gellings and Charlie Schau. The advantage grew to 3-0 in the second when Gellings drove a double to center to plate Jake Petasek.

In the fourth, Petasek again reached base as he singled to left, and Nick Nowak brought him home on a triple to the left field wall for a 4-0 lead. Madison made it 6-0 in the fifth thanks to a run-scoring single by freshman Marcelino Alonso and a wild pitch with Dayton Rozinski-Hicks scoring from third.

The day's final runs came in the sixth, starting with Nowak pounded his second home run in a three-day span on the first pitch of the inning. A bases loaded sacrifice fly later in the frame by Will Johannes drove in the final run as Charlie Marion tagged up from third.

Nowak finished the game with two hits, two runs batted in, and a run scored. Gellings and Schau also registered a pair of hits, with Gellings driving in a run and scoring another while Schau crossed home once. Frehner matched Nowak with two RBI and a run scored on a hit and a walk, and Petasek led the Pack with two runs scored.

Game #2: Black Hawk College 6, Madison College 0

The Madison College (19-8) bats went cold in game two as Black Hawk College (28-8) pitchers limited the WolfPack to just three hits.

The Braves took a 1-0 lead in the first half inning on a walk and back-to-back singles, and the Pack appeared primed to respond in the home half when a Jalen Gellings double and two walks loaded the bases with two outs. Unfortunately, Will Johannes went down swinging to end the threat.

Four more singles and two more runs went up on the scoreboard in the second for BHC to make it 3-0. The WolfPack had another opportunity to close the gap in the fourth with the bases loaded and nobody out after an error and two walks. Evan Iwinski, Kobe Vosberg, and Nick Nowak all were retired to leave the three runners stranded.

A two-run home run off reliever Grant Ross made it 5-0 in favor of the Braves in the fifth, and a solo home run against Iwinski in the seventh completed the scoring. 

Gellings accounted for two of the team's three hits, including one for extra bases. 

Sophomore Eli Hoyt (0-1) got the start, marking his first game action since sustaining an injury during the 2023 Arizona Spring Trip. The righthander from Waukesha, Wisconsin, tossed the first inning and allowed one run on two hits and a walk to take the loss. He struck out one batter before giving way to Ross for the next four innings. Ross surrendered four runs, eight hits, and a walk, to go along with four K's. Iwinski took over for the final two innings that saw BHC post a run on one hit and take a pair of strikeouts. 

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