Area Roundup: Serena baseball scores sweep, 300th win for head coach Chad Baker

At Serena, the host Huskers baseball team scored 21 runs, climbed back above .500 and notched head coach Chad Baker’s 300th career victory while finishing a Little Ten Conference sweep of Earlville, 21-2 in four innings Tuesday.

Serena (9-8 overall, 6-2 Little Ten) knocked 14 hits, led be the likes of Dylan Cartwright (single, two doubles, four RBIs), Cole Shannon (two singles, three RBIs), Tanner Faivre (two singles, two RBIs), Cam Figgens (two singles, four runs scored), Carson Baker (double, two RBIs) and Todd Smith (single, two RBIs). Shannon (4 IP, 2 ER, 5 K) earned the mound win.

The Red Raiders (2-10, 1-7) received two hits and an RBI courtesy of Garett Cook. Jeremy Weymouth (1 IP, 9 ER, 0 K) suffered the pitching loss.

Newark 7, Somonauk 1: At Somonauk, the visiting Norsemen (11-5 overall, 8-0 Little Ten) led from the top of the first inning on, with Joe Martin (6 IP, 1 ER, 14 K) dominating from the bump.

Zach Carlson tripled and drove in two runs, Cole Reibel added a triple of his own, and Lucas Pasakarnis was 3 for 4 with an RBI.

Midland 4, Seneca 3: At Seneca, the host Irish led 3-1 through four before losing the Tri-County Conference contest.

Austin Aldridge (5 IP, 2 ER, 10 K) was dealt the pitching loss. Paxton Giertz provided two hits, including a solo home run. Tyler Sulzberger also had two hits and an RBI.

Manteno 9, Streator 3: At Manteno, the host Panthers salvaged the Illinois Central Eight Conference split with the Diamond Dogs.

Streator is now 11-5 overall and 7-2 in the ICE despite a Jenson Ketcham home run and two RBIs, two Christian Benning singles and the mound work of Benning (3 2/3 IP, 4 ER, 5 K) and Jake Luckey (2 1/3 IP, 0 ER, 3 K).

Rochelle 10, Sandwich 0 (5 inn.): At Sandwich, the host Indians were shut out, with losing pitcher Taylor Adams (1 2/3 IP, 6 ER, 3 K) and Ronald Frasher managing the only Sandwich hits.

SOFTBALL

Ottawa 10, Sandwich 0 (5 inn.): A Sandwich, the visiting Pirates (11-4, 5-1 Interstate Eight Conference) rolled past the Indians.

Alexis Sexton had two hits for Sandwich, while Ottawa’s offense was spearheaded by Hailey Larsen (3 for 4 with a solo homer), McKenzie Oslanzi (3 for 4 with a double, triple and three RBIs) and Zoe Harris (two doubles), with Lily Nanouski, Makenna Chiaventone and Gianna Leigh also driving in runs. Maura Condon added two hits and pitched the four-hit shutout (5 IP, 0 R, 6 K).

Serena 12, Earlville 5: At Serena, the host Huskers finished off a Little Ten Conference sweep of the Red Raiders to improve to 11-4 on the spring and 6-0 in the Little Ten.

Maddie Glade (7 IP, 4 ER, 10 K) notched the win for Serena, supported by the bats of Katie Baker (two triples, RBI) and Jenna Setchell (two singles, triple, RBI), with Glade (two singles, double) helping herself with three hits and three RBIs. Paisley Twait also had two hits and an RBI.

Leading Earlville (6-6, 3-3) were Brynn Guelde (single, double, RBI), Hannah Pfaff (two doubles, single, two RBIs), Elizabeth Browder (triple, RBI) and Broklynn Guelde (7 IP, 8 ER, 4 K).

Manteno 7, Streator 2: At Manteno, the visiting Bulldogs (9-9, 5-4 ICE) couldn’t avoid the sweep, leading early but surrendering seven combined runs in the third and fourth innings.

Rilee Talty tagged a solo homer for Streator, with Jaelyn Blakemore (single, triple), Makenna Ondrey (two singles) and Maci Byers (single, RBI) also leading the attack in support of Blakemore’s work in the circle (6 IP, 7 ER, 3 K).

Seneca 12, Midland 0 (5 inn.): At Seneca, the host Fighting Irish (13-3, 7-2 Tri-County Conference) scored multiple runs in all four of its turns at the plate while receiving a shutout, three-hit pitching performance from Taya Roe (5 IP, 0 R, 11 K).

Alyssa Zellers (4 for 4, two home runs, two RBIs) led the Seneca attack, as did Sam Vandevelde (home run, two RBIs), Callee Bauer (triple) and Kennedy Hartwig (solo home run).

Boys track and field

FCW 10th at Falcon Invite: At Gibson City, Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland placed 10th of 11 teams at the Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Falcon Invitational.

Phoenix Cooper (2nd in the shot put at 16.35 meters; 3rd in the discus at 4092 meters) had the top finishes for FCW.

Fieldcrest 4th at Heyworth: At a seven-team meet at Heyworth, Fieldcrest scored a fourth-place finish.

Mason Stoeger’s wins in the 800-meter run (2 minutes, 2.70 seconds) and the 1,600 (4:54.33) led the Knights.

Ottawa 3rd, Streator 5th at Pontiac: At the Pontiac Relays on Tuesday, Ottawa’s boys placed third with 77 team points and Streator fifth with 54 in a six-team field.

Streator’s 4x100 team (44.78 seconds) and 4x200 team (1:36.15) of Cade Stevens, Collin Jeffries, Quentin Goforth and Aneefy Ford won their relay events.

For the Pirates, Ethen Swords’ second in the shot put (13.39 meters) was the top finish.

Girls track and field

Fieldcrest 8th at Heyworth: At an eight-team meet at Heyworth, Fieldcrest’s girls placed eighth.

The Knights’ top finishes were Carol Megow’s third-place throw in the shot put (9.43 meters) and second-place run in the 300-meter hurdles (53.01 seconds).

JV boys tennis

Ottawa 5, Morris 0: In I-8 Conference play, the unbeaten Corsairs swept the proceedings.

Victories came from: singles – No. 1 Rylan Salas (8-3) and No. 2 Collin Olszewski (8-5); doubles – No. 1 Alan Sifuentes and Karcin Hagi (8-0), No. 2 Landon Thorsen and Ethan Farr (8-3) and No. 3 Trevor Mortenson and Aric Threadgill (8-4).