CHICAGO – After opening the season with 18 games on the road or at neutral sites, the Olive-Harvey baseball team made its home debut Thursday when it played host to College of DuPage.
Despite grabbing early leads in both ends of the doubleheader, the Panthers lost 5-1 in the opener and 10-5 in Game 2.
OHC jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning of Game 1 after the first three batters all recorded hits. Jeremiah Williams (Thornton Fractional North H.S.) and Gabriel Sanchez (Spring H.S./Houston, Texas) both singled before Ronald Applewhite (Rich East H.S.) followed with an RBI double.
The Olive-Harvey offense would have just one more hit the remainder of the game – a Kardenis Jimenez (Luz America Calderon H.S./Carolina, Puerto Rico) single in the fourth inning.
DuPage scored four unearned runs in the second inning and added their fifth tally in the sixth off of starter Josh Morales (Island Coast H.S./Cape Coral, Fla.). In addition to allowing just one earned run, Morales also fanned six in five-plus innings.
Yaviel Colon (Stella Marquez H.S./Salina, Puerto Rico) pitched two shutout innings to close out the game. He struck out one and gave up one hit. With back-to-back scoreless outings, the sophomore right-hander has seen his ERA drop to 3.53 for the season.
The Panthers grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second inning of the finale when Applewhite singled home Jimenez and Jorge Torres (North Shore H.S./Houston, Texas) with two outs.
The Chaparrals answered with five runs in the third inning, but Williams closed the gap to 5-3 in the bottom half of the third when his single through the left side scored Christian Perez (Colegio Bautista de Caguas H.S./Aguas Buenas, Puerto Rico).
After DuPage struck once in the fifth, Olive-Harvey came back with a pair of unearned runs in its half of the inning. With two outs, Jimenez singled and Williams was hit by a pitch. Both scored on a double steal in which COD committed two errors on the play, making it a 6-5 game.
The Chaparrals put an end to OHC’s comeback bid, closing out the scoring with a run in the sixth inning and two in the seventh.
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