GRAYSLAKE, Ill. — Milwaukee Area Technical College baseball shook off a thin bench and a battered roster Wednesday afternoon, grinding out a 10–4 road win at College of Lake County. The Stormers entered the matchup with barely 11 healthy position players and fewer than a dozen available arms, yet they cruised to a six‑run victory to secure their second straight win.
The road victory moved MATC to 21–31 overall and 6–20 on the road. The Stormers outhit CLC 12–10 and played error‑free baseball, with eight of nine starters recording at least one hit.
Jaiden Jung led the offense with three hits, including two doubles, while MATC used a three‑man pitching plan that featured
Charlie Cefalu,
Zakary Vanlerberghe and
Nolan Litkowiec working three innings each to cover the full game.
"We got back to playing our brand of baseball," MATC head coach
Caleb Bounds said. "We were able to execute three hits‑and‑runs, execute a crucial bunt and also had around five stolen bases. When you play aggressively and execute, it is hard to defend. We were able to keep the pressure on them and walk away with the win."
CLC opened the scoring in the first inning after a leadoff walk, a stolen base and an RBI single for a 1–0 lead. Cefalu worked around traffic in each of his first two innings, then escaped a bases‑loaded, two‑out jam in the third. CLC still pushed across a run earlier in the inning on a fielder's‑choice RBI that made it 2–0.
MATC answered with a four‑run fourth inning on three hits, two walks and a hit‑by‑pitch.
Tyler Lee doubled home the first run to cut the deficit to 2–1.
Blake Bugher followed with an RBI single to tie the game.
Gavin Garnica, who reached on a dropped third strike, later scored on a catcher's error, and another run came across before a double play ended the inning.
The Stormers added a run in the fifth after back‑to‑back walks to
Carson Sieler and
Hayden Fellows. Lee dropped down a bunt and reached on a catcher's error, which allowed a run to score for a 5–2 lead.
MATC broke the game open with a five‑run sixth inning on six hits and a hit‑by‑pitch. After a leadoff strikeout,
Easton Morehouse singled and Jung doubled. Sieler followed with a two‑run single that scored both runners for a 7–2 advantage. Fellows was hit by a pitch, and Lee singled to load the bases. Garnica then delivered a two‑run single that scored Sieler and extended the lead to 8–2. After a strikeout for the second out,
Brady Johnson lined a two‑run single up the middle to make it 10–2.
"The offense did a great job in stacking multiple hits in a few innings and really breaking the scoring open in the sixth," Bounds said.
CLC responded with two runs in the bottom of the sixth. The Lancers opened the inning with back‑to‑back doubles to score one run, then added another on a two‑out RBI double to cut the deficit to 10–4.
Litkowiec closed the door with three strong innings. He worked a clean eighth and ninth and allowed only a one‑out double in the seventh.
"Nolan did a great job getting the three‑inning save to shut the door," Bounds said.
Cefalu threw the first three innings and allowed two earned runs on four hits and four walks with six strikeouts. Vanlerberghe followed with three innings and earned the win to improve to 1-1 on the bump after giving up two earned runs on five hits with one strikeout and no walks. Litkowiec finished the final three innings and allowed one hit with no walks and two strikeouts.
Jung powered the offense with a three‑hit afternoon that featured two doubles, an RBI and a run scored. Lee added two hits, drove in a run and crossed the plate twice, while Morehouse singled twice and scored once. Johnson reached base three times on two walks and a two‑run single and added a stolen base. Bugher contributed a single, an RBI and two stolen bases. Sieler added a single, a walk, two RBIs, a stolen base and two runs scored. Fellows doubled, walked and scored twice, and Garnica added a single, an RBI and a run scored.
UP NEXT
MATC (21–31) returns home Thursday for Sophomore Day and its final home game of the regular season, hosting College of Lake County for a nine‑inning contest at the Oak Creek Campus. First pitch is set for 3 p.m. The matchup is a rescheduled game from April 2.
