ECC opens regional with win
One down two to go for the Elgin Community College baseball team.
In its quest for a sixth straight trip to the NJCAA World Series, the Spartans got off on the right foot Thursday with a 9-1 win over College of Lake County in the opening round of the Region IV Tournament at Highland Community College in Freeport.
No. 3 seed ECC (37-16) takes on top-seeded Kankakee (47-12-1) at noon today in the semifinals. Kankakee beat Black Hawk 6-4 Thursday.
ECC got a stellar complete-game performance from Curtis Hudson (8-1) Thursday. While Hudson allowed Lake County (30-9) just 3 hits, the Spartans went off for 17 hits. Hudson struck out seven and walked one.
"Curtis was pretty dominating," said ECC coach Bill Angelo. "He had a no-hitter through 62/3 innings. Every time he takes the mound he gives us a chance to win."
The Spartans scored 7 of their runs in the final three innings.
"We kept chipping away and chipping away and then we had the big innings," Angelo said.
Cory Hodge was 4-for-5 for the Spartans with his first home run and 2 RBI. Brad Porto and Craig Stolzenburg each had 3 hits and 2 RBI and Zach Blanchette and Dan Scahill each added 2 hits.
An ECC win today would put the Spartans just a Saturday win away from another regional championship.