MADISON, WISC. - The Madison College baseball team saw a five-game win streak come to an end Tuesday with a 10-1 home loss to McHenry County College in the opener of a Region 4 home-and-home series at Robin Roberts Field. The WolfPack allowed the most hits by an opposing team and the second most runs; however, a couple of very near misses at the plate may have altered the course of the game. The all-time series still favors the Pack by a 34-15-1 margin.

In a contest between two programs who have had their fair share of memorable games over the years, the WolfPack were the ones to strike first, and they did it in a big way. Sophomore Charlie Marion was facing a 1-2 count with two outs in the bottom of the first when he belted the next pitch well beyond the right field wall for a 1-0 lead. The solo home run is Marion's team-leading ninth of the season. 

Two innings later, Marion came up with another run scoring opportunity with two on and two out, and the Franklin, Wisconsin, native sent another deep ball to right center that was caught at the wall to end the inning. The Scots turned that momentum stealing play into a run in the top of the fourth, using back-to-back doubles against starter Liam Stumpf to tie the game at 1-1.

McHenry County, playing NJCAA Division I this spring for the first time, gained some separation in the fifth inning with four runs on five hits. The last hit was a two-out double that drove in two runs to make it 5-1.

Trailing by four in the next half inning, the WolfPack seemed ready to narrow the gap. An error and an single put two runners on, and with two out, it was Marion again who stepped to the plate. He again turned on a 3-1 pitch and drove it deep down the right field line, appearing to clear the right field foul pole for a three-run homer. The ball was ruled a foul ball, and Marion went down swinging on the next pitch.

The game got away from the Pack in the seventh with MCC putting three more runs on the scoreboard thanks to three hits and three free passes. Two more runs in the eighth made it 10-1, and Madison College was unable to generate a base runner from that point on.

The WolfPack tallied just four hits in the game, tying for their fourth-fewest in a game this season. Freshman shortstop Jalen Gellings had two of the four hits, while Jake Petasek and Marion had the other two hits. Marion finished with a run scored and one batted in on his tenth career home run.

Madison College sent five arms to the mound, starting with Stumpf (3-3) going the first six innings and allowing five runs on nine hits. The righthander from Dodgeville, Wisconsin, struck out four before turning it over to Evan Iwinski. Iwinski was tagged for three earned runs on three hits and a walk in less than an inning. Eamonn Mulhern then worked an inning, giving up two runs, one of which was earned, and two hits. He walked one and struck out one. Noah Musolf and Camden Broske combined for the final 1.1 innings.

Up Next:

Madison College (27-10) travels to Crystal Lake, Illinois, on Wednesday to complete the home-and-home series with McHenry County College (35-11). First pitch is at 3:00 p.m. Watch and follow live via the GameChanger app.

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