(Des Plaines, IL) – Waubonsee Community College's baseball team engaged in an epic battle in the first round of the six-team, double-elimination 2021 Region IV Division III Tournament on Thursday. The fifth-seeded Chiefs outlasted fourth-seeded Joliet Junior College to pull out a 9-8 victory in 15 innings, setting one school record and tying another. Unfortunately, Waubonsee was knocked into the loser's bracket later in the day by the host school Oakton Community College, falling 10-2 to the top-seeded Owls. The Chiefs are set to play in an elimination contest tomorrow, Friday, May 14 against sixth-seeded Milwaukee Area (WI) Technical College beginning at noon. All the remaining tournament games are being played on Oakton's field in north suburban Des Plaines.
The marathon game against the Wolves set a mark for the longest contest in Chiefs' baseball history by time, taking five hours and 11 minutes to complete, and tied the program record for longest game by innings. In 1976 under the direction of the late Bill Prince, Waubonsee battled both the College of Lake County and the College of DuPage for 15 innings that season, downing the Lancers 8-6 and edging the Chaparrals 3-2.
The Chiefs (21-23) tallied 15 hits in the marathon game versus Joliet, the last one a run-scoring single by Ryan Beer in the top of the 15th inning to drive in Van Harrington who had smacked a leadoff double to left center. Dante Maietta, the seventh pitcher used by head coach Rodney Lopez in the contest, closed out the victory by getting the final out via strikeout with the potential tying run on first base.
Joliet (22-32) scored first in the see-saw affair that had eight lead changes and four ties. The Wolves scored in the bottom of the first before Waubonsee took a 2-1 lead in the top of the second on a two-run double to left field by Adrian Zietara. Joliet pulled even in the bottom half of the inning on a triple and sacrifice fly. Waubonsee went in front in the top of the third on a first and third double steal attempt, with Mark Sommers swiping home before Beer was tagged out between first and second base.
The Wolves then took the lead in the bottom of the fifth, scoring twice with a pair of hits and the aide of two Chiefs' errors. Waubonsee then loaded the bases in the top of the sixth, but failed to score when the Wolves turned an inning-ending double play. The next inning the Chiefs cashed in on a walk and a single, tying the game on a Joliet error. Brendan O'Connor then came through with a two-out, run-scoring single to put Waubonsee in front 5-4.
Chiefs' reliever Sammy Habayeb got out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh when he struck out a pair of Wolves batters with runners at second and third. Waubonsee carried that slim one-run lead into the bottom of the ninth, but was unable to close out the game. Joliet's Tony Fleischer reached base on a dropped third strike, stole second and moved to third a few pitches later on a passed ball. The Wolves' Doug Loden then battled Chiefs' reliever Nick Black in a nine-pitch at bat before hitting a ground out to second base to drive in Loden and tie the game. The next two Joliet batters reached base, but Black stranded the potential winning run at second base inducing another ground out.
In the top of the 10th the Chiefs got the upper hand as Ryan Stempowski laced a two-out single to right field and Joey Pantano followed with a clutch two-run homer to left field to put Waubonsee ahead 7-5. A single, an error and a stolen base put runners at second and third, but Joliet's Cannon Karczewski got Mason Barnick to fly out to center field to prevent the Chiefs from adding to their lead. They could have used an extra run as the Wolves responded by scoring twice to tie the score on a hit batsman, a walk, a single and a sacrifice fly. Waubonsee reliever John Kruzwicki stranded the potential winning run at third when he struck out Joliet's Mike Kennedy to send the game to the 11th inning.
Waubonsee went in front again in the 11th inning as Stempowski drilled a two-out, two-strike single to center to knock in O'Connor who had drawn a walk to start the frame. Once again though the Chiefs' lead was short lived as Joliet's Dolan Glasgow walked, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, and then stole third and scored when the throw got away. Waubonsee went down in order in the top of the 12th before Joliet threatened in the bottom half of the inning. Joliet's Brock Bolser walked and stole second base to start the inning. Noah Mazza then lined a one-out single to left field and O'Connor gunned down Bolser at home plate to keep the game tied. Hunter Venditti coaxed Loden to fly out to right field a moment later to keep the nail-biting contest going.
The Chiefs went down in order again in the top of the 13th and Joliet again threatened to end the game in the bottom half of the inning. A single and hit batsman put two runners on to start the inning. Maietta then came on in relief and got a strike out and a double play to send the game to the 14th frame. Once again the Chiefs went down in order, while Maietta induced three straight groundouts to move the battle into the 15th inning and set the stage for Beer's eventual game-winning hit.
Maietta picked up the win by allowing just one hit over three innings of work. Offensively Stempowski, Pantano, Beer and Sam Tickel all booked two hits apiece for the Chiefs. Zietara smacked a double and knocked in two runs, while O'Connor walked three times and scored twice.
A weary Chiefs' squad then squared off against highly touted Oakton (28-17), the sixth-ranked team nationally in the latest NJCAA Division III poll, on their home field barely 45 minutes later. The Owls broke through in the bottom of the third scoring three times on three hits, a pair of walks and a fielder's choice. They added a fourth run in the fourth inning courtesy of a Chiefs' error. Waubonsee got on the board in the top of the fifth inning as Stempowski was hit by a pitch, advanced to second on a passed ball, and scored on single to center by Garrett Bragg. However, Oakton got that run back in the bottom half of the frame to take a 5-1 lead.
Beer then led off the top of the seventh with a double to left field. He scored two batters later on an Oakton error to get the Chiefs within 5-2. However, Kyle Moore came on in relief for the Owls and stranded a pair of Waubonsee runners. That momentum swing sparked Oakton's bat which erupted for five runs in the bottom half of the frame, winning via the 'eight-runs after seven innings slaughter-rule.' Aurora Central Catholic alumnus Alex Rakas ripped a two-run, walk-off double for Oakton to end the game and complete the Chiefs' nine-hour baseball odyssey for the day.
Brendan Lawry took the loss going five and two-thirds innings, striking out 11 and allowing only three hits and three earned runs. Bragg finished 2 for 2 with a walk and a run driven in to lead Waubonsee's offense. Oakton starter Nate Pardini went six and two-thirds innings, striking out six, walking just one, scattering only four hits and two unearned runs to pick up the win.