COLLEGE BASEBALL: DACC baseball loses two to Parkland

DANVILLE — The final two regular season home games for the Danville Area Community College baseball team was not the sendoff it wanted.

The Jaguars lost both games to Parkland College, 16-5 and 12-2 on Friday at Danville Stadium.

“It was not a great start to the series but we have some more games and we can bounce back,” DACC coach Clayton Hicks said after the first game. “It’s hard to put it in to words, but it is the last games for (Braxton) Waller and (Zach) Russell, (Garrett) Fultz, (Eric) Rodriguez and (Jason) Dorning. It is an emotional day for all of us, especially if you are talking about guys like Waller, who has been the face of the club for the last two seasons.

In the first game, the Cobras jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but the Jaguars closed the game to 7-5 in the fourth. DACC got the bases loaded and Russell walked to bring in the first run of the inning, then Fultz drove in two runs with a single, Jaydon Riggs grounded into a fielders choice for a run and Drew Wichtowski singled to bring in Fultz.

But Parkland would score nine runs in the fifth and shut out DACC in the bottom of the inning to get the win.

“We beat ourselves. The offense came out and scored five runs. We had back to back walks to start the inning and added an error to that. we had 4-5 walks in that inning and when you don’t allow the defense to work and you s tarte giving up free bases and it just starts to snowball on you. Hopefully, Eric Rodriguez can bail us out and get us back.

Rodriguez kept the game close in the first three innings as the Cobras were only up 4-1 after the third inning.

But Parkland would get to him in the fourth with eight runs and would go on for the sweep. Wichtowski had two hits and one RBI and Waller had an solo home run.

The Jaguars are 21-27 and will travel to Parkland today for another doubleheader. Hicks said that the goal is get something started before District Tournament play, where he is certain the Jaguars and Cobras will see each other again.

“They are locked in at No. 2 and we are locked in at No. 5,” Hicks said. “So we are going to see them sometime next week and we have to find a way to gain some momentum and get over the hump against them. You never like to lose to anyone especially someone as close as Parkland, so we just have to come out and compete and find a way to build some positive energy.”

All sophomores honored included Russell, Cameron Feuerborn, game 1 starter Drew Ogden, Fultz, Landon Gudnanson,Abe Vancampen, Wichtowski, Rodriguez, Dorning, Riggs, Waller, Cain Buhr and Alec Harrison.