Apaches exceed best win record, stand at 23-24
By Holli L. Rapp
Heading into the playoff week and the last regular season game, the Apache baseball team has a 23-24 record and a 5-4 conference record.
After press time but before publication, the Apaches played host to Moraine Valley. The Apaches travel to Joliet April 29 for the first round of the playoffs where they will play host to College of DuPage at 1 p.m. The tournament is double elimination with the winner of the tournament hosting the Ohio champion May 1.
On April 25, the Apaches traveled to Carl Sandburg and split the games winning the first 8-7 and losing the second 5-3. Charlie Riva went 4 for 7 on the day including a triple in the first game.
Fulkerson had game winning hit on a two out double and drove in Jason Grubar to score the winning run.
The Apaches also traveled to play Spoon River over the weekend and won both games by scores of 7-2, and 6-3 behind the pitching of Steve Hardman and Carl Taft. Hardman raised his record to 6-2 behind Eric Markey hitting 2 for 3 in the game.
Hardman (6-2) pitched a complete game striking out 10 Spoon River players.
In the second game, Brent Allen and Garet Dinges went two for three, while Riva went two for two. Carl Taft aided his cause by picking off four base runners in the complete game.
On April 21 the Apaches traveled to Triton on April 21 with the first game to make up for conference rainout from April 10. The 7-2 win in the first game for the Apaches was a big
victory over the Triton Trojans who were previously ranked 11th in the country and 1st in the Region. That game was the only conference loss the Triton team suffered.
"Dinges had 8 assists in stellar play," said Koopmann.
The second game, the head coach says was a totally different game, as the Apaches lost 20-1.
On April 20, the Apaches traveled to Harper and were only able to get in one game due to bad weather but behind Justin Wharrie's pitching and two hitter the Apaches were able to get out with a 12-0 win.
College of DuPage came to Oglesby on April 19 and came out with a split on the day with DuPage winning the first game 7-6, and the Apaches winning the second 7-0.
In the second game, Ryan Bonnamy threw a shutout for the Apaches. For the day DuPage, catcher Kevin Hahn exploded for 3 home runs and 8 runs batted in.
On April 18 the Apaches split with Elgin. Elgin won the first game 13-6 and Tim Breuniing threw a no hitter to get a win in the second game.
"He's a curve ball specialist and that impresses me very much," said Koopmann.
Seven Apaches have been named to the all-conference team including Allen, Markey, Hahn and Wharrie to the first team while honorable mention members include Jeff Szczupaj, Mike Fulkerson, and Dinges.
Allen is leading the team in batting, home runs, and RBI's. The center fielder from Ottawa has a batting average of .393 with 9 home runs and 47 runs batted in.
Also leading the Apaches is Markey with .333 and 17 RBI's while Grubar has a .326 batting average and 15 stolen bases. St. Bede graduates Riva and Dinges round out the top five with .324 and .323 batting averages.
According to Koopmann, Hardman, who leads the team in wins, will take the hill for the Apaches against DuPage.
"It's not a love fest," said Koopmann. College of DuPage head coach Dan Kusinski was Hardman's pitching coach at UIC. According to the head coach, friction is between Hardman and his ex-pitching coach is why Hardman came to IVCC.
The Apache April 29, 1999