CHICAGO – In a promising start to the 2019 season, the Olive-Harvey baseball team swept Prairie State College, winning 1-0 in Game 1 before claiming a 2-1 triumph in the nightcap Monday afternoon at West Chatham Park.
Dominant pitching helped pave the way to the victories as the Panthers’ five hurlers struck out a total of 22 hitters while issuing just five hits in 14 innings.
Game 1 starter Jeremiah Williams (Thornton Fractional North H.S.) recorded nine strikeouts and yielded just one hit in five innings en route to posting a win in his collegiate debut. He combined with freshman reliever Julio Castro (Island Coast H.S./Cape Coral, Fla.), who pitched the last two frames to earn the save, for the shutout. Castro fanned four and gave up a single during his stint.
Kenneth O’Farrill (Vocacional Miguel Such H.S./Loiza, Puerto Rico) accounted for the lone run in the first game. The sophomore coaxed a two-out walk in the third inning, raced to third after a throwing error on a pick-off attempt and scored courtesy of a fielding error.
Prairie State threatened in the fourth, placing runners on second and third with just one out. But Williams closed out the inning with a strikeout and flyout. Castro extinguished the Pioneers’ scoring bid in the sixth, registering a strikeout to strand a runner on second.
Joseph Castillo (Bloom Trail H.S.) supplied PSC’s only hit in the 1-0 decision.
Like Williams, Josh Morales (Island Coast H.S./Cape Coral, Fla.) was victorious in his first collegiate appearance. The freshman struck out eight and surrendered a pair of singles in six innings.
OHC parlayed three hits and two errors into two tallies in the fifth inning. Michael Torres (Colegio Nuestra Senora del Pilar H.S./Loiza, Puerto Rico) singled and scored the first run. Ronald Applewhite (Rich East H.S.) tripled to right-center field to drive in Jorge Torres (North Shore H.S./Houston, Texas), who got on via a walk, to up the lead to 2-0.
Additional highlights by the Panthers included Christian Perez’s (Colegio Bautista de Caguas H.S./Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico) double and singles off the bats of Jorge Torres, Castro and Kardenis Jimenez (Luz America Calderon H.S./Carolina, Puerto Rico).
OHC nearly came away with another whitewash, but Prairie State scratched out a run in the seventh inning. With runners on first and second and no outs, O’Farrill was summonsed to preserve the 2-0 cushion. He was greeted with a bunt single to load the bases, however, the right-hander promptly got a force out at home followed by a strikeout. An error enabled the Pioneers to get on the board and cut the lead in half, but a groundout to third secured the win.
In addition to the seventh inning, PSC left the bases loaded in the second and sixth innings.
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