(Sugar Grove, IL) – Waubonsee Community College's baseball team's final home games of the 2024 season did not turn out how they had hoped against highly touted McHenry County College. The Chiefs (20-29) fell twice to the Scots (40-11), the undefeated Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference champions, in a non-conference match-up. McHenry built a big lead in game one and held on for an 11-8 victory. The Scots completed the sweep by jumping out to a big lead in game two on the way to coasting to an 11-3 victory, securing their 40th win of the season.
In the opener the Scots tallied a run in the top of the first inning on a run-scoring single through the right side by Owen Nowak with Jackson Dibble scampering home from second base. McHenry then batted around in the top of the second on the way to scoring four times to take a 5-0 lead. They tacked on another run in the third on a sacrifice fly by Ryan Skwarek. Meanwhile, the Chiefs hit some balls hard off Scots' starter Nico Acevedo but had nothing to show for it. That is until Chazz Crook lofted a solo home run down the left field line well past the 330-foot marker to get Waubonsee on the board in the bottom of the third. Kaden Neuman came on to pitch for the Scots in the fourth and Trey Hernandez greeted him with a double to the base of the left field fence. Donavan Zielke followed with a single to deep shortstop and Ryan Buck knocked Hernandez in with a single through the right side. But Neuman escaped any further damage to secure a 6-2 Scots' lead heading to the fifth inning.
After having slowed down McHenry's bats the prior two innings, Chiefs' reliever Nate Loo surrendered a pair of runs in the fifth before inducing three straight ground outs to get out of the inning. The Scots then broke the game open in the sixth as Christian Graves led off with a towering solo homer to left field to put the visitors in front 9-2. Two batters later Keli Grennier collected his fourth hit of the game with a resounding run-scoring double in the left center field gap. Caden Guenther then capped off the inning with a double down the left field line to give McHenry an 11-2 lead. But Waubonsee kept battling and clawed their way back to within striking distance. In the bottom half of the sixth the Chiefs got one of those runs back when Buck slapped a single to left field to score Joel Johnson who had walked to start the inning. Waubonsee scored again moments later as Eric Gonzalez singled through the left side to drive in Hernandez to make it 11-4. A short time later Buck and Gonzalez crossed the plate when Austin Stone blooped a two-out single down the right field line.
Trailing 11-6 heading to the bottom of the seventh the Chiefs looked to mount a big rally. Things started off well with Landen Young and Johnson coaxing walks to start the inning off Dimitri Bourmas, the Scots' fourth pitcher of the game. Sam Skirvin then came on in relief for McHenry and Hernandez nearly greeted him with a home run, flying out to deep left center field. Zielke then blooped a single to left field to drive in Young to make it 11-7. Waubonsee got the potential tying run to the plate by loading the bases with two outs. Aidan Sheehan then drew a walk to force in a run to pull the Chiefs within three. However, Jake Leonhard came in to pitch for McHenry and got the final out to earn the save. Hernandez finished 2 for 4 with a double and two runs scored, while Buck also went 2 for 4 with two runs driven in and one run scored. Zielke ended the game 2 for 3 with a run batted in, and Johnson walked twice, scored twice and flew out twice to right center field fence as well.
Game two McHenry got on the board again early as they pushed across two runs in the top of the first on three singles and a sacrifice fly out. Jackson Dibble then slapped a one-out run-scoring single in the second to give the Scots a 3-0 lead. The Chiefs threatened in the bottom half of the inning, but left the bases loaded. McHenry used that momentum swing to break the game open by scoring five times in the top of the third on just one hit, taking advantage of three walks, two hit batters and a Chiefs error. Waubonsee got on the board in the last of the third when Crook blooped a two-out single to shallow center field to score Johnson for the Chiefs' first hit off Skwarek, the McHenry starter in game two. The Scots tacked on another run in the fourth and two more in the fifth to forge ahead 11-1.
Johnson then led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk and came around to score when Jonny Marquez drilled a one-out, single to center. The Chiefs scored again when Gonzalez walked, stole second and alertly came all the way home on a dropped third strike that went to the backstop. After scoring in each of the first five innings the Scots were kept off the board in the top of the sixth and seventh by Waubonsee reliever Luke Voelker to keep the score 11-3. But that is as close as the Chiefs would get as they stranded two runners in the bottom of the sixth and another in the seventh.
Waubonsee managed just two hits in the second game and couldn't take advantage of eight walks issued by three different McHenry pitchers. Johnson drew three free passes and scored twice, while Gonzalez walked twice, had a stolen base and scored once. Starting pitcher Will Oczkowski took the loss on the mound. Coach Rodney Lopez's crew closes out the regular season tomorrow, Sunday, May 5 when they travel to Sauk Valley Community College for a twin bill starting at 1:00 p.m. in Dixon. Waubonsee is set to begin play in the Region 4 Division III Tournament beginning on Thursday, May 9 at the College of DuPage. The time of the first round game and the Chiefs' opponent are yet to be determined.
