RIVER GROVE, Ill. – The 2019 season came to an end for the Olive-Harvey baseball team Thursday after the Panthers dropped a pair of games at the Region IV Division I Tournament at Triton College.
OHC lost 5-4 to South Suburban College before suffering a 10-3 setback to Kishwaukee College in the four-team double-elimination tournament.
Trailing 5-1 in the SSC contest, Olive-Harvey rallied with three runs in the top half of the eighth inning to narrow the gap to 5-4. With two outs, Kardinis Jimenez (Luz America Calderon H.S./Carolina, Puerto Rico) delivered an RBI double down the right field line, while Julio Castro (Island Coast H.S./Cape Coral, Fla.) followed with a two-run single to left.
But the Panthers were unable to get any closer as they were retired in order in the ninth.
Kenneth O’Farrill (Vocacional Miguel Such H.S./Loiza, Puerto Rico) gave OHC a 1-0 lead in the first inning when he walked and scored on Castro’s sacrifice fly to right field. Castro’s three RBIs marked the third time this season that he knocked in three or more runs in a game.
South Suburban knotted the score in the second inning and tacked on its final four tallies in the fourth. Of the five runs the Bulldogs recorded off of Olive-Harvey starter Luis Lopez (John Leonard H.S./West Palm Beach, Fla.), only one was earned. Lopez struck out seven and allowed eight hits and two walks in his complete-game effort.
Jimenez and Joseph Castillo (Bloom Trail H.S.) both had two hits in the opener.
The Panthers struck early in the Kishwaukee game as well, scoring twice in the bottom half of the first to jump out to a 2-0 lead. After back-to-back outs to open the inning, Jimenez singled sharply up the middle and scored on Castro’s triple to right-center field. Gabriel Sanchez (Spring H.S./Houston, Texas) added an RBI single to center.
The lead, however, was short lived. The Kougars scored three runs – all unearned – in the second inning and extended their advantage to 7-2 in the fourth. Raul Estades (Osceula H.S./Kissimmee, Fla.) singled to center and scored on an error in the fourth to conclude OHC’s run production.
KCC tacked on two insurance runs in the sixth inning and one in the eighth en route to its victory.
Steven Camadeca (West Boca H.S./Boca Raton, Fla.) topped Olive-Harvey’s offense with a pair of hits in the finale.
Josh Morales (Island Coast H.S./Cape Coral, Fla.), who started the second game, didn’t allow an earned run in his three innings of work. Jan Lopez (Rio Grande, Puerto Rico/Colegio Nuestra Senora del Pilar H.S.) was effective in relief, giving up one run in three innings.
Morales and Jan Lopez posted 2.65 and 3.98 ERAs this season, respectively, to rank first and second on the staff.
The Panthers finished the season with an 11-26 record under first-year head coach Marty Joyce. The 11 wins are the most on record in program history.
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