CHICAGO – A three-run eighth inning by the Olive-Harvey baseball team broke a 4-4 tie and lifted the Panthers to a 7-4 victory over Kishwaukee College on Friday at West Chatham Park, improving OHC’s record to 3-0 on the season.
Ronald Applewhite (Rich East H.S.) delivered the big hit in the eighth as he blasted his second triple of the game to straight-away center field to score Jorge Torres (North Shore H.S./Houston, Texas) and Kenneth O’Farrill (Vocacional Miguel Such H.S./Loiza, Puerto Rico). William Wormsbecher (Pembroke Pines Charter/Pembroke Pines, Fla.) singled to left to extend the lead to 7-4.
Julio Castro (Island Coast H.S./Cape Coral, Fla.) pitched the final two innings to claim the win. He allowed one run on two hits and struck out one.
Sophomore right-hander Luis Lopez (John Leonard H.S./West Palm Beach, Fla.) went the first five innings on the mound, matching his career high of 10 strikeouts while giving up one run and two hits. Jan Lopez (Colegio Nuestra Senora del Pilar H.S./Rio Grande, Puerto Rico) and Rick Montenegro (Curie Metropolitan H.S.) both pitched a scoreless inning in relief.
Olive-Harvey’s five hurlers combined to strike out 14 Kishwaukee batters, recording at least one punchout in seven of the nine innings.
The Panthers opened the scoring with a pair of runs in the first inning. After O’Farrill and Applewhite led off the bottom half of the inning with back-to-back walks, Wormsbecher drove in the former with a single to center, while Bryan Colon’s (Pro Baseball Academy/Arroyo, Puerto Rico) groundout plated the latter.
Kishwaukee cut its deficit in half with a run in the fourth inning, but OHC tallied twice in the fifth when the first four batters reached base safely. Applewhite got things started with a walk, Joseph Castillo (Bloom Trail H.S.) singled to left, and Wromsbecher walked to load the bases for Kardenis Jimenez (Luz America Calderon H.S./Carolina, Puerto Rico), who delivered a two-run single down the left-field line.
The Kougars accounted for the next three runs, striking twice in the sixth inning and once in the seventh to deadlock the game at 4-4, but Olive-Harvey quickly regained the lead in the eighth.
Applewhite, Wormsbecher and Jimenez all had two hits and two RBIs. Applewhite also scored three runs and walked twice.
#cccathletics