MCC baseball squad wins Region; moves on to district
MCHENRY COUNTY — McHenry County College’s baseball team is moving on to the NJCAA District tournament.
The Scots improved to 43-11 and celebrated earning its third win in NJCAA Division I Region IV tournament, a 12-3 decision over Triton College May 11. They head to the next round with a nine game win streak and ended 23-2 for home games. District play is at Wabash Valley College, in Mount Carmel, IL, May 15-17.
“Mark DeCicco (starting pitcher) completely and did a great job,” MCC coach Jared Wacker said. “Offensively we got some free bases and some clutch hits.”
MCC’s pitching has been a strength all season and it showed at regional. Gavin Micklinghoff, Dylan Petrey and DeCicco were the winning pitchers in Region IV games.
Also, honors kept coming for the Scots. DeCicco was named Region IV baseball Division I Tournament MVP. The Crystal Lake South alum pitched five innings against Triton, striking out six, allowing one hit and two walks.
Coach Wacker received a major post-seasons honor as well. The 13th-year mentor from Huntley was named Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference Male Coach of the Year following his Skyway Coach of the Year honor. Wacker is in his 13th year as leader of the Scots and gained his 500th victory earlier this season.
“It’s really exciting to be going to districts,” Huntley alum Brandon Hanley, a freshman catcher, said. “All the hard work, especially the defense, it was lights out.”
“It feels amazing, especially in our first year in Division I,” catcher Noah Goodard said.
Hanley and Goodard each had good games against Triton. Goodard contributed 3 for 4 with two walks and one RBI. Hanley had a 1 for 4 game with one run and one walk. Owen Nowak was 2 for 5 with two RBIs, one walk and one run scored.
Petrey stayed perfect on the season, increasing his pitching record to 8-0 in the 5-2 MCC win over South Suburban. He worked seven innings, struck out six, with two walks, two runs and four hits allowed.
A complete game two-hitter pitched by Micklinghoff led MCC the McHenry County College baseball squad to a 6-0 win over Olive-Harvey.
Micklinghoff of McHenry gained the pitching win against Olive-Harvey with 13 strikeouts and 130 pitches. In the Olive-Harvey contest, Christian Graves had a 1 for 4 game with one RBI; Matt Armstrong walked twice and scored a run; Blake Stempowski was 1 for 4 with 2 RBIs and Kelli Grennier was 1 for 3 with one run and one RBI.
McHenry County College’s baseball team prepared for the tournament by faring quite well in Skyway Conference honors. The Scots won the league championship with a 12-1 record as part of a 40-11 regular season.
Players honors were led by outfielder Nowak, who won Skyway Player of the Year award. First team all-conference honorees were: Mickinghoff, pitcher; Ryan Swarek, infield; Stempowski, infield; Dibble, outfield and Goodard, designated hitter. Second team all-conference selection was Dylan Petrey, pitcher. Honorable mention all conference winners were Hanley at catcher and Armstrong, infield.
