(Sugar Grove, IL) – Under clear skies and pleasant temperatures on Thursday afternoon Waubonsee Community College hosted the College of Lake County in a rare non-conference baseball match-up between the two Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) members. The Chiefs (20-21), who clinched the ISCC title last weekend after the Lancers had to forfeit a pair of games, fell behind early in this third meeting between the conference foes and could never quite catch up as Lake County pulled out a 11-6 win. The ISCC championship is the Chiefs' eighth league title in program history and the first since 2014, the final year of Hall of Fame coach Dave Randall's career at Waubonsee. Coach Rodney Lopez's crew finished with a 12-2 ISCC record with McHenry County College a game back at 11-3 in the standings.
The Lancers (21-16) erupted for five runs in the top of the second inning all with two outs, courtesy of their Cerna family connection. After a two-out walk, a single, and another walk loaded the bases, Clint Cerna ripped a two-strike single to center to drive in two runs. After another walk and a wild pitch scored a third run, Clay Cerna drilled a single to center to quickly give the Lancers' a 5-0 lead. Waubonsee got a run back in the bottom half of the frame after Lukas Haddox led off with a double to the right center field fence. He eventually scored on a two-out infield single behind second base by Zion Pena. Lake County got that run back though in the top of the fourth when Clint Cerna smacked another single to center to drive in Evan Henry who had drilled a double to the right center field fence three pitches earlier.
Waubonsee pushed across a run in the bottom of the fourth when Pena slapped a two-out single between third and shortstop with Matt Bivens eluding the tag of Lancers' catcher Evan Henry after the throw home pulled him up the third base line. Meanwhile, Blake Sotir came on in relief of Chiefs' starter Ryan Buck in the fourth and held Lake County in check, retiring 12 of the first 14 batters he faced to give the Chiefs' a chance to get back in the game.
Waubonsee pulled within a run by scoring three times in the bottom of the sixth as Cole Schrank drove a double to the left center field gap to score Haddox and Bivens after they both drew walks to start the frame. Schrank then scored when Joel Johnson reached on an infield hit with two outs to make it a 6-5 game. Jonny Marquez then led off the bottom half of the seventh with a walk and was lifted for pinch runner Noe Marrero. The Minooka High School graduate then stole second base before Eric Gonzalez also coaxed a walk to put the potential tying and go ahead runs on base. Mason Tokarz-Deram came on in relief for the Lancers and got out of the jam by striking out two batters and enducing a pop out in foul territory.
Lake County finally got to Sotir with two outs in the eighth when Henry drilled a home run to right field to give the Lancers' an insurance run. The visitors then broke the game open with four runs in the top of the ninth as the Chiefs' defense imploded, making four errors. Waubonsee tallied a run in the bottom of the ninth when Schrank drilled a two-out double down the right field line to drive in Eric Gonzalez to close out the scoring.
Scrank finished the game 2 for 3 with a pair of doubles, three runs driven in, two walks and a run scored. Pena also registered two hits, while Haddox and Bivens each scored twice in the game. Buck took the loss on the mound for Waubonsee, allowing five earned runs over three and a third innings of work. The Chiefs are set to be in action again tomorrow, Friday April 28 when they host Sauk Valley Community College in a noon doubleheader.
