SOUTH HOLLAND, IL - There will be more baseball.
After falling 6-1 to top-ranked Wabash Valley in the semifinals of the Midwest District Series Friday afternoon, Indian Hills bounced back with a 12-4, seven-inning thumping of Kaskaskia in an elimination contest to earn a return date with Wabash Valley Saturday at 11 a.m.
The Centerville-based Warriors will need to defeat Mount Carmel, Illinois-based Warriors in back-to-back contests today to advance to the Alpine Bank NJCAA Division I JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado May 29-June 6. Meanwhile, the nation's No. 1-ranked squad merely needs just one victory in today's 11 a.m. contest to advance.
"The name of the game for us is that we're going to have to go out and plate some runs against a quality baseball team," said Indian Hills Head Coach Matthew Torrez. "We're going to go out and compete on the mound like we have been all year, and if we can go out there and plate some runs, we're going to be okay."
Through six and a half frames in Friday's semifinals, it looked like Indian Hills could be positioning itself to be the team sitting in the catbird's seat heading into Saturday's finals as ace Maddux Hoaglund and Wabash Valley's Connor Oliver were locked in a pitcher's duel. IHCC trailed just 1-0 heading into the bottom of the seventh, with the only run of the ballgame coming on Savier Pinales' third-inning flyball to right that found its way out of diminutive Bulldog Field.
Oliver kept IHCC handcuffed over his seven innings as the lefty surrendered just a single to Dave Janssen in the seventh before exiting. In all, the Warriors would only muster two hits in Friday's opener.
"I went out and took out Maddux and I said that might have been one of the best pithed games I've ever had," Torrez said. "Every time I asked him to execute, he did. He kept us in the baseball game. They just threw out a good arm, and we just couldn't get anybody across the plate."
Wabash Valley got to Hoaglund in the bottom of the seventh after the Warrior righty issued a walk, a hit batsman, and a single to load to the bags. With two away, Curtis Washington delivered a blow to IHCC's hopes with a three-RBI double to left to make it 4-0, WVC.
Both teams would turn to their bullpens the rest of the way, but the game was all but decided at that point. Wabash Valley tacked on two more in the bottom of the eighth on a Jon Nieves two-run homer to center to make it 6-0 off of Gavin Hinckley, and Indian Hills would avoid the shutout as Janssen scored Noel Perez with a sacrifice fly in the ninth.
With only thirty minutes to respond before facing an elimination game with Kaskaskia, the Warriors' fortitude was tested, and Torrez turned to Nick Marshall to keep IHCC's season alive.
Torrez' troops had defeated the Blue Devils 16-5 in seven innings on Wednesday's District opener, and it took just seven innings this time around to end Kaskaskia's season as the Warriors and Marshall (8-1) rolled to the 12-4, run-rule shortened victory.
"I always tell the guys the only game that matters is the one that sends you home at the end of the year," Torrez said. "You never know how they're going to face that one that could potentially send you home, but they went out and did their jobs like they've been doing all year, and they actually were pretty impressive right there."
The Warriors sent the message that they were no where near ready to pack their bags to head home just yet, as they plated four in the first, and two each in the second and third to build an 8-1 lead.
IHCC wasn't done providing support for Marshall; however, as they scored at least one in every frame in rolling the team's 41st victory using a 14-hit attack. Ren Tachioka and Ricardo Van Grieken led the Warrior offense with three hits each while Van Grieken had four RBI. Samuel Fortier and C.J. Castillo each knocked in a pair of runs.
Marshall scattered eight hits over his seven innings of work while striking out ten with no walks.
Game time for Saturday's finals is 11 a.m. If the Warriors were to force the if-necessary contest, it would start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of game one.
"That little white ball doesn't care how big you are, or how fast you run," Torrez concluded. "It's about how you execute. So, we're going to go out and give it our best shot and see what happens."
MIDWEST DISTRICT SERIES
SEMIFINALS
Indian Hills 000 000 001 – 1 2 0
Wabash Valley 001 000 32x – 6 9 2
Maddux Hoaglund, Gavin Hinckley (7), Dade Hensley (8) and Dave Janssen. Connor Oliver, Jason Bollman and Jon Nieves.
W – Oliver (9-1). L – Hoaglund (7-2).
E – Minyety, Pennington. DP – IH 1, WV 1. LOB – IH 7, WB 5. 2B – Hogart, Washington. HR – Nieves, Pinales. RBI – Janssen, Nieves 2, Pinales, Washington 3. SAC – Janssen. HBP – Janssen, Rodriguez, Van Grieken, Hall. CS – Tachioka.
GAME THREE
ELIMINATION CONTEST
Kaskaskia 001 030 0 – 4 8 1
Indian Hills 422 121 x – 12 14 0
Nick Marshall and Dave Janssen. Griffen Frahm, Tyson Jones (4), Trenton Schwerdt (5), J.D. Barnes (6) and Bryce Zupan.
W – Marshall (8-1). L – Frahm (1-1)
E – Zupan. LOB – KC 5, IH 6. 2B – Crocker, Castillo, Fortier, Tachioka. HR – Fortier, Van Grieken. RBI – Crocker, Denten, Hoel, Kresin, Boucher, Castillo 2, Fortier 2, Perez, Van Grieken 4. SAC – Boucher, Castillo. HBP – Janssen, Morrow. SB – Morrow, Tachioka.