The College of DuPage baseball team stayed hot at home on April 17, totaling 23 hits to Triton College’s five. Taking full advantage of the wind, the Chaparrals made their second game of the season against the Trojans look like batting practice. Between scoring 10 runs in the second inning and sophomore infielder Josh Schuberth hitting a grand slam as a pinch hitter, Triton’s pitchers couldn’t stop COD. The Chaps finished the game 26-3 in seven innings, evening out their record at 13-13 and increasing their win streak to six games.
“I think the final score speaks for itself,” assistant coach Matt Gould said. “The guys have been on a great stretch swinging the bats. We got a lot of different guys in there to contribute today, which is always nice to see. Everyone we brought in came up and gave us more good at-bats. Sometimes it just works out this way. The elements were in our favor.”
Gould also acknowledged the COD pitchers who prevented the Trojans from capitalizing on the wind.
“I also think it’s important to note that our pitchers did a really good job,” he said. “The other team was playing in the same wind, and they could’ve easily gotten some balls up there. We didn’t let that happen and that allowed us to build our lead and made the rest of the day a lot less stressful.”
Sophomore utility Quinn Flanagan set the tone after sending the ball over the center field wall to secure his first home run of the season. Flanagan ended his day with two hits and four total runs in two at-bats. He also walked once and picked up three RBIs. He was excited to record his first home run as a Chaparral.
“I’ve said before every single game this year that I think, ‘Today is my day that I put one out,’” Flanagan said. “Finally it came true, so it was pretty exciting. I was looking to hunt a fastball, put it in the air and see where it goes. I just thought it was going to be off of the wall or something, so [I made] a pretty fast home-run trot. Hopefully, there’s more to come, we’ll see.”
Freshman infielder Jack Wade notched his second home run of the season, launching the ball into the trees over the right field wall. With his two-run homer, Wade secured five runs and four RBIs. At the plate, he made four hits in five at-bats and walked once. He said it was nice to see different players on the roster get a chance to pinch hit as the lead continued to grow.
“It’s exciting to see new guys in some spots,” Wade said. “These guys who got their shots really deserved it. They’ve been on the fence the whole year cheering us on the whole time. When they got their shot, they went in, had our back and we had theirs.”
Freshman pitcher Eddie Scaccia earned his third win in his fifth start of the season, pitching through six innings. He threw four strikeouts and four walks, but gave up five hits and a home run, resulting in three runs.
“It’s kind of hard not to throw well when your team scores [26] runs,” Scaccia said. “I just kept throwing my stuff. They’d still have to hit it pretty hard, so if it was going to go, it was going to go. I wasn’t really worried about it, I was just trying to fill up the zone.”
Sophomore catcher Filip Milatovic also found success on offense, recording his first home run of the season in the second inning. His three-run homer added to his five hits and seven RBIs on the day. He collected four hits in four at-bats. As exciting as he found his stat line, he said the focus always shifts towards the team’s next opponent.
“I was seeing the ball well today,” Milatovic said. “I was getting good pitches in the [strike] zone and putting good swings on them. It was good conditions to hit a home run and the wind was blowing out. I think I got all of that one, so the wind didn’t really matter that much. It felt good seeing good balls out there, we’ve just got to keep this momentum going.”
The Chaps look for two more wins over the Kankakee Community College Cavaliers in a doubleheader with the first game starting at 1 p.m. on April 18 at the COD Baseball Field.
