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Friday, July 8th vs. Northwest Indiana 

 

Going into Friday’s contest, the Hounds knew that they would have to battle against their most heated MCL rival, the NWI Oilmen, a team has been steadily climbing the standings since mid-June. Unfortunately for the Hounds, they just became another victim of the streaking Oilmen as NWI took the game easily by a score of 7-1 thanks to the fantastic outing from starting pitcher, Christian Howell.

 

Despite outhitting the Oilmen, 9-7 the Hounds only managed to plate one run and that run came on a passed ball in the first inning. Joe Engel led it off and scored that early run after walking. He also reached base a second time on a base hit. Dane Toppel followed in there two hole where he went one for five with a single. 

 

The usual-of-late combo of Javier Martinez and Brandon Post assumed the three and four spots in the order. Javier reached base one time in his four trips on a single while Brandon saw his average climb after going two for four on the day with two base knocks.

 

Ryan Krob was the only other Hound to record a multi-hit game as he too went two for four with two singles. Finally, the only other Hounds to record a hit were Mike Roberson and John Dreveny who both reached base once in their four trips on singles. 

 

All-Star Thomas Goodyear got the tough task of starting against the red-hot Oilmen lineup. Unfortunately for Thomas the Oilmen were not fooled by his electric stuff as they scored four runs off of him in five inning on five hits while striking out three.  Another All-Star, Joey Roberson gave up multiple runs for the first time this year after the Oilmen tagged him for three runs on two hits, although he did strike out an impressive four batters. Finally, Ben Simpson came on for the ninth where he allowed no runs on no hits.

 

Saturday, July 9th vs. Joliet Admirals

 

Saturday was an entirely different story for the boys in blue and gold as they finally figured out how to cruise past the pesky Admirals. After scoring just one run the night before, DuPage plated a whopping 12 runs over the course of the ballgame to Joliet’s measly two. The pitching wasn’t too shabby either as the quartet of Hounds arms essentially shut down the Joliet bats.

 

The top four in the order looked identical to the night before with Joe Engel led it off. Joe reached base three times in his five at bats after getting hit by a pitch, walking and smacking a two-run RBI double. Dane Toppel was named player of the game after three for five three singles and two runs batted in.

 

Despite not getting a hit, Javier Martinez drove in two on two sacrifice flies. He also reached base once after drawing a walk. Brandon Post followed up by going one for five at the dish with a three-run RBI single.

 

Tyler Tesmond also jumped in on the action as he went one for five at the plate with a single and a double. Mike Roberson followed right after and found his way on base three times after he drew a walk, smacked a single and slugged a double. Billy Hayes was the only other Hound to record a hit as he too reached base three times on a walk, single and a double. Overall, he drove in one run on the day.

 

Despite not grabbing the win, Hounds starter, Peter Hamot threw a solid four innings in which he gave up just two runs (one earned) on six hits while striking out five and walking no one. Nick Alfini was first out the pen and he too was impressive, throwing three innings of shut out ball while allowing three hits and striking out two. The combination of Cole Berry and Tony Iero finished up the game by throwing clean innings in which they both struck out one batter.

 

The Hounds next ballgame will be Thursday, July 14th at O’Neil Field against the Bloomington Bobcats. We look forward to seeing you all soon!