Shaw Local

News   •   Sports   •   Obituaries   •   eNewspaper   •   Everyday Heroes   •   The Scene   •   175 Years
Illinois Valley

Marquette, Serena, Dwight win baseball regional semifinal games: The Times Wednesday roundup

Earlville/Leland has its season come to a close

Ottawa Marquette's Anthony Couch

Ottawa Marquette's Anthony Couch (Rob Oesterle)

By Brian Hoxsey

Baseball

Marquette 3, Pontiac 1: In the semifinals of the Class 2A Bishop McNamara Regional on Wednesday, the top-seeded Crusaders (33-3) advanced to Saturday’s 10 a.m. championship game with the win over the No. 9-seeded Indians.

Marquette will play the winner of Thursday’s semifinal between the host Fightin’ Irish and Herscher.

Starter Anthony Couch (win, 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 1 BB, 8 K) and Alec Novotney (2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 5 K) combined efforts on the mound for the Crusaders. Novotney and Grant Dose each doubled, while Beau Thompson had a two-run single in the second to give Marquette the lead for good.

Serena 2, Amboy 1: In the semifinals of the Class 1A Amboy Regional, the No. 4-seeded Huskers - on a tie-breaking RBI single in the sixth inning by Ryne Debernardi - topped the No. 6-seeded Clippers.

Serena (12-12) will play Parkview Christian in the championship game at 1 p.m. on Saturday.

Cash Raikes (double) had two of the Huskers four hits, while Payton Twait also drove in a run. Nate Kelley (7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 3 BB, 9 K) earned the complete game victory.

Parkview Chirstian 10, Earlville/Leland 2: In the semifinals of the Class 1A Amboy Regional, the No. 8-seeded Red Raiders (7-13) had the season come to an end with the loss to the top-seeded Falcons.

Declan Brennan (double) had three of Earlville/Leland’s six hits, while Larson Huss recorded an RBI. Brennan (1 IP, 0 ER, 1 K), Hayden Spoonmore (2 IP, 4 H, 8 ER, 1 K) and Brynjar Huss (3 IP, 0 R, 1 K) shared time on the hill.

Dwight 9, Grant Park 0: In the semifinals of the Class 1A Dwight Regional, the No. 2-seeded Trojans advanced to Saturday’s 11 a.m. championship game with the triumph over the No. 7-seeded Dragons.

Dwight will play the winner of Thursday’s semifinal between Gardner-South Wilmington and Chicago Horizon/McKinley.

Joey Starks (win, 4⅓ IP, 1 H, 1 BB, 7 K), Jacob Wilkey (1⅓ IP, 0 H, 2 K) and Jackson Launius (1 IP, 1 K) combined on the one-hit shutout for Dwight. Wilkey had two hits and two RBIs, with Ayden Collom, Starks and Maddox DeLong also driving in single runs.

Prep SportsPremiumOttawa PrepsSandwich PrepsStreator PrepsWoodland PrepsFlanagan-Cornell PrepsSeneca PrepsFieldcrest PrepsSomonauk PrepsSerena PrepsNewark PrepsLeland PrepsEarlville PrepsMyWebTimesMarquette PrepsIllinois Valley Front HeadlinesDwight Preps
Brian Hoxsey

Brian Hoxsey

I worked for 25 years as a CNC operator and in 2005 answered an ad in The Times for a freelance sports writer position. I became a full-time sports writer/columnist for The Times in February of 2016. I enjoy researching high school athletics history, and in my spare time like to do the same, but also play video games and watch Twitch.