Team News

In just a brief, best of three series, the Hounds accomplished the crucial task of locking in the game one home victory to take an overall 1-0 series lead before they head down to Bloomington for game two. Tuesday’s win was an overall excellent team performance that started with Hounds starter, Peter Hamot who gave up no runs in his six innings of work. The bats weren’t too shabby either as the dominant Hounds lineup put up twelve team hits, which led them on their way to the 5-1 win.

 

Dane Toppel was back in the lineup just in time for the Hounds playoff run and he was slotted back into his familiar leadoff role. Toppel reached base one time in his five tries on base knock. Dustin Krob continues to be a force in the top third of the DuPage order as he went two for five with a single and a double as well as a team-high two RBIs.

 

The cleanup duties were once again handed to Brandon Post who went one for four at the dish with a single. Mike Roberson slid down into the six hole to help push for run support in the bottom half of the order and he did just that by going two for four with two singles and a RBI.

 

Billy Hayes bat continues to heat up as of late as he went two for four with two base knocks. John Dreveny followed Hayes in the order and copied his exact same stat line where he too also went two for four at the plate with two singles.

 

The double-leadoff man, Zach Girard rounded out the DuPage lineup in the nine hole by going two for three with a single and a double. Finally, Joe Engel and Tyler Tesmond both reached base once in the contest after each drawing a walk.

 

As mentioned earlier, Peter Hamot was absolutely electric out on the mound as he threw six innings of no run ball in which he gave up just three hits and struck out four. The first reliever on was Nick Alfini who threw two innings in which he gave up just one run on two hits while striking out one. Finally, Chase Lowman came on for the final frame where he allowed no base runners and struck out two. 

 

For Bloomington, Matt Rave led the way offensively by going two for four with a single and a double. Nick Brunson, Nick Green and Ryan Scott all reached base once on singles. Cody Rogers had the lone Bobcat RBI after he grounded into a fielders choice in the eight inning. 

 

It was Bobcat starter, Nick Brune who took the loss after he gave up five runs on eleven hits while striking out two. Bloomington’s relievers were near perfect after as the combination of Blade Matthews and Lucas Hall gave up just one hit over the next three innings.

 

Game two of the first round of the MCL playoffs between DuPage and Bloomington will be Wednesday, August 3rd at 6:15pm at Illinois Wesleyan University. If DuPage wins tomorrow, they move on to the MCL Championship that would start Friday. If Bloomington wins, game three will be Thursday in Lemont at 5pm