The Madison College baseball team captured the North Central Community College Conference title with a pair of close victories over visiting Joliet Junior College on May 1.
Madison College finished conference play with a 9-1 record, the only conference loss was 1-0 to runner-up College of DuPage which has lost two games already.
Although there was no conference champion in 2020 due to the cancelled season, Madison College was the conference champ in 2019.
The WolfPack now has a 32-11 overall record and has won five of its last six games.
In the doubleheader sweep that brought them the conference title, Madison College defeated Joliet, 4-1, in the opening game and, 5-3, in the second game.
A three-run fourth inning propelled Madison College to victory in the first game. Gunnar Doyle opened the inning with a base hit and stole second base, advancing to third on an error by the catcher. He scored on a sacrifice fly.
Eduardo Saucedo then was hit by a pitch and Spencer Bartel followed with a double, putting runners on second and third. After a strikeout, Taiten Manriquez doubled in both runners.
Reagen Klawiter pitched a complete game three-hitter, allowing one unearned run and striking out five. He improved his season record to 4-1 overall.
The second game saw Madison College jump out to a 4-1 lead after two innings and then hold on for a 5-3 win despite being out-hit in the game.
Walks to Brady Jurgella and Kameron Laskowski and a double steal allowed the WolfPack to score a pair of runs on just one hit, by Jake Fulton, in the bottom of the first inning.
Similarly, a walk to Gabe O’Brien and Ryan Hubley getting hit by a pitch keyed a two-run second. Both runners scored a single by Jurgella.
Madison College added its final run in the bottom of the sixth when Hubley singled and scored after a pair of Joliet errors.
Luke Hansel pitched the win to improve his record to 6-1, allowing three runs on eight hits in seven innings.
Madison College has seven games remaining before the NJCAA Region 4 Sectional Tournament begins on May 14. The WolfPack are ranked 17th in the NJCAA Division II and have high hopes for the tournament.
Zach Storbakken leads the team offensively with a .430 batting average and seven home runs. He has scored 44 runs and driven in 40. Hansel and Alex Redman lead the pitchers with six wins each, although five pitchers have at least four wins this season.