MADISON, WISC. - The top-seed in the 2024 NJCAA Region 4 Tournament had to put some serious work in Friday and Saturday to advance through the Region 4 Sectional Tournament, which they did with a trio of victories at Robin Roberts Field. The WolfPack used another masterful effort from ace Michael Carpenter to top #8-seed Morton College 5-1 and then eliminated #12-seed College of Lake County with an 8-3 victory on Friday. That left Madison College, ranked #13 in the NJCAA Division II Poll, in need of one more win Saturday against the Panthers, which they got in dramatic fashion as sophomore Grant Ross broke a tie game with a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth to win 11-7. 

Game #1: (1) Madison College 5, (8) Morton College 1

Taking on a Morton College club that belted two home runs in a 10-2 win over the College of Lake County in the day's first game, lefthander Michael Carpenter got right to work cooling the Panthers hot bats with a 1-2-3 top of the first. A walk and an error to start the bottom half led to two early Madison College runs with Nick Nowak scoring on a Charlie Marion sacrifice bunt, and Jalen Gellings crossing home thanks to a ground ball up the middle from Charlie Schau.

The score remained 2-0 until the bottom of the third when Gellings and Marion reached on back-to-back singles. Schau, a native of Park Ridge, Illinois, then grounded out to the first baseman, allowing Gellings to score for the second time and put the WolfPack ahead 3-0. The differential reached four runs in the fourth when Nowak came up with the bases loaded and one out, and promptly few out to right field for a sacrifice fly that plated Payton Frehner.

One of the more impressive streaks in Madison College baseball history came to an end in the top of the fifth. A double, a single, and a sacrifice fly by the Panthers against Carpenter gave the visitors their only run of the game, and also ended a stretch of 45-scoreless innings by the former Arrowhead HS athlete.

The game's final run came in the bottom of the fifth when sophomore Will Johannes lined a double to the wall in left center to score Schau from first base.

Carpenter worked out of a jam in the eighth, and then handed the ball to Grant Ross to finish out the ninth, which he did by striking out two of the three batters he faced. Carpenter finished with ten strikeouts over eight innings, keeping his NJCAA-leading earned run average at 0.95. He moved into a tie for second for single-season strikeouts with 96, matching the output of Jack Eagan in 2018 and six shy of Hall of Famer Brian "Butch" McKeon. The final statline credited Carpenter with one earned run on seven hits as he improved to 8-2. 

Madison College produced six hits and took advantage of seven walks. Schau led the charge with a hit, a run scored, and a team-leading two runs batted in. Gellings was tops with two runs scored with one hit. Nowak finished 0 for 3 with a walk, scoring a run and driving in a run. Marion and Johannes each had a hit and a RBI, while Frehner posted a hit and a run scored.

Game #2: (1) Madison College 8, (12) College of Lake County 3

The day's final game, and second for the host team, opened with a big five-run first inning for the WolfPack. Nick Nowak led off with a single, and Jalen Gellings, Charlie Marion, and Will Johannes all came through with run-scoring singles. Back-to-back ground outs by Payton Frehner and James Duncan added two more runs for the 5-0 advantage.

The Lancers (29-25) responded in a big way with a two-out, three-run home run off starter Liam Stumpf to close to the gap to 5-3 in the top of the second.

The Madison College bats went back to work again in the third inning. A Schau single and a Johannes double put runners in scoring position for Frehner, who hit a hard grounder back up the middle to score both runners. Frehner eventually reached third and was able to score on a wild pitch three batters later to make it 8-3. 

WolfPack pitchers retired the next 13 batters faced until a single in the eighth ended the streak. A 4-6-3 double play ended the inning for Stumpf, who worked one batter in the ninth before turning it over to second year reliever Allen Leitner to close out the win.

Stumpf improved to 5-3 with eight solid innings and seven strikeouts. The former Mineral Point HS athlete allowed three earned runs on five hits and a walk.

Frehner, a native of Waukesha, Wisconsin, racked a team-high three runs batted in on two hits, while also scoring a run. Johannes, one spot ahead of Frehner in the lineup, was also 2 for 3 with two runs scored and a RBI. Gellings was the third hitter with multiple hits as his 2 for 4 effort yielded one run scored.

Schau used a hit and a walk to match Johannes with two runs scored, while Marion touched home once and drove in a run with his one hit.

Madison College won all three meetings with CLC this season, and are now 35-8 all-time. 

Game #3: (1) Madison College 11, (8) Morton College 7

The sectional finale on Saturday provided plenty of fireworks, especially in the form of home runs and two-out hitting. The WolfPack ran out to a 5-0 lead over the game's first four innings. Payton Frehner singled in Nick Nowak in the first to put Madison College on the scoreboard. In the third, Jalen Gellings led off with a single, and second year slugger Charlier Marion followed with a two-run home run off a 1-2 pitch that he sent beyond the left field fence to make it 3-0. The long ball is Marion's tenth of the season.

The fourth inning brought two more runs for the home team, and both were scored with two outs on the board. A dropped third strike on what would have been the inning's third out allowed Nowak to score and the inning to continue. Frehner added to the misery with a RBI-single to left that brought in Gellings.

The five-run lead did not last long, as Morton College rattled off six straight runs over the next two innings to take a 6-5 lead. A wild pitch with the bases loaded and a sacrifice fly in the same at bat pushed two runs across in the top of the fifth. Then with two outs in the top of the sixth and the bases packed, the Panthers got two 2-run singles to take their first lead of the game.

The WolfPack returned the favor in the home half of the sixth. With Schau aboard thanks to a hit-by-pitch and two outs, Will Johannes launched a two-run blast deep into the woods past left field to regain the lead 7-6. The bomb moved Johannes back into a tie for the team lead with Marion at ten homers, as well as into a tie for second all-time in career home runs with 21.

Unfortunately, the Panthers had plenty of fight left, and scratched out a run in the top of the seventh on an error, a double, and a fielder's choice to even the score at 7-7. An inning later, Morton College had an opportunity to regain the lead with a runner on third and two away, but Gellings made a spectacular play as he ranged deep behind second base to field a potential go-ahead base hit and three out the runner at first to end the inning.

That set the stage for a Grant Ross to be the hero, though he needed some help - and a little luck - to make it happen. After the first two batters were retired in the bottom of the eighth, Ross' teammates produced two straight singles by Schau and Frehner, and walk from Johannes to load the bases. The second year infielder and pitcher from Pewaukee, Wisconsin, came to the plate, where facing a full count, he hit a pop fly in foul territory behind home plate. The Morton College catcher chased it down, but was unable to finish the catch as it popped out of his glove and fell to the ground. With new life, Ross hammered the next 3-2 offering over the left field wall for his first career home run, a grand slam to propel the WolfPack to an 11-7 lead. The Panthers (37-20) went 1-2-3 in the ninth against Eamonn Mulhern and the WolfPack was moving on.



Ross was one of three batters to generate three hits in the game, and drove in a career-high four runs on a career-high-tying three hits. He also scored a run. Frehner finished 3 for 5 with two runs driven in and one scored, while Gellings used his three-hit day to score two runs. The native of Eden, Wisconsin, now has three games with three or more hits.

Johannes ended the game with a hit, two runs batted in, and two runs scored. Schau scored twice on a hit and a walk, to go along with a RBI. Marion had two runs batted in and one scored with his lone hit. And Nowak tied for the team-lead with two runs scored as he went 1 for 5.

A trio of pitchers help get the WolfPack to the finish line, starting with sophomore Eli Hoyt. The righty from Waukesha, Wisconsin, worked five innings and limited the Panthers to two unearned runs on three hits and a walk. He struck out two before Ryan Karst took over for an inning-and-a-third. Karst surrendered five unearned runs on five hits and a walk. Mulhern (3-0), a native of Madison, Wisconsin, took over in the seventh and finished the final 2.2 innings of scoreless ball with one hit allowed and three K's, including two in the final inning to earn his third win of the season.

Madison College, which did not play Morton College during the regular season, is 23-6 in the all-time series.

Up Next:

Madison College (34-11) advances to and will host the Region 4 Tournament for the sixth straight season on May 16-18. The top-seeded WolfPack will open against #4-seed Kankakee Community College (35-21-1), who they swept in an April 27 home doubleheader to improve to 27-19 in head-to-head meetings. First pitch is scheduled for 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, May 16 at Robin Roberts Field. The other Round 1 game follows at noon and pits #3-seed Rock Valley College (41-13) against #2-seed Black Hawk College (45-12). The losers will play an elimination game at 3:00 p.m., while the winners play Friday, May 17 at noon.

Tournament Websites: Madison College | Region 4

All game will be live streamed at MadisonCollege.TV, with the Madison College games available to follow live via GameChanger.



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