DANVILLE — Baseball players are creatures of habit and there is a certain rhythm to the season.
That’s not only true at the professional level but also in collegiate baseball.
Playing in the Mid-West Athletic Conference, the Danville Area Community College Jaguars are prepared to play league doubleheaders every weekend from the middle of March until the first weekend in May with one exception.
With nine teams in the league, every squad has one weekend off and that’s when the programs scramble for multiple mid-week games to fill the void.
Unfortunately for DACC, all five games it had schedule between a four-game conference series with John Wood on March 29-30 and a four-game set with Parkland on Saturday and Sunday were cancelled.
“Having two weeks off stunk,’’ DACC coach Clayton Hicks said. “It’s hard to find teams to play on the weekends and then we lost every non-conference game we had scheduled during that stretch.’’
And the layoff proved to be a factor as Parkland won three out of four against DACC this past weekend, with the Jaguars pulling out a 14-12 win in 10 innings in Sunday’s final game.
“We had an 11-5 start in the conference and we were hoping to keep it rolling,’’ said DACC sophomore Carter Wambach, noting that the Jaguars had won 11 out of 14 games before the two-week break. “But, that’s just how the ball falls.’’
DACC pitchers walked 25 batters, hit 15 and threw 17 wild pitches in the four-game series, while the Jaguars defense committed 13 errors. That’s a total of 70 free bases
“It’s frustrating to give them so many free bases,’’ Wambach said. “We need to limit those to beat the best teams in this league.
“It’s tough to win games, especially against good teams, when you can’t string together multiple good innings and get a little momentum.’’
That was especially true in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader at Danville Stadium.
After getting shutout 7-0 in the opener by Parkland left-hander Will O’Gorman, DACC (17-20 overall, 12-8 in the M-WAC) took a 2-1 lead in the first inning and then proceeded to tie the contest with single runs in the third and fifth innings but a three-run sixth for the Cobras was just enough to pull out a 7-6 victory in that game.
“We were right there with them,’’ said Wambach, who went 1-for-3 with two RBIs in that second game including a game-tying run-scoring single in the third. “Parkland is a team that definitely rides the momentum. We can beat them if we can get ahead of them early.’’
That didn’t prove to be the winning formula on Sunday.
The Jaguars actually fell behind 8-0 after three innings before they put together a six-run four and a five-run sixth to take an 11-8 lead.
Parkland (24-11 overall, 14-6 in the M-WAC) rallied to tie the game at 11, sending the contest into extra innings.
In the 10th, Shea Zbrozek’s 2-run single highlighted the 3-run inning and then Zbrozek got the final three outs to secure the 14-12 victory.
“We are going to see what we are made of after this weekend,’’ Hicks said. “This is the first time we have faced some adversity since dropping the first two games of the conference season.
“We have a pretty resilient group and they have battled all year.’’
Up next for DACC is a four-game weekend series with Heartland. The first two games are set for Saturday at Danville Stadium, while the final two will be played at the Corn Crib in Normal on Sunday.
Saturday’s results
At Danville Stadium
Game 1
Parkland 7, Danville Area 0
Parkland `103 `300 `000 `— `7 `7 `0
Danville Area `000 `000 `000 `— `0 `4 `3
WP — Will O’Gorman. LP — Logan Elsbury. Two or more hits — Parkland: Michael Carrano Jr. 2, Will Flanigan 2, Tylor Phommachanhorn 2. DACC: Shea Zbrozek 2. 2B — Parkland: Carrano. HR — Parkland: Flanigan 2. RBIs — Parkland: Flanigan 4, Phommachanhorn, Ryan Snell, Josh Outlaw.
Game 2
Parkland 7, Danville Area 6
Parkland `120 `013 `0 `— `7 `7 `3
Danville Area `201 `012 `0 `— `6 `7 `2
WP — Sam Bryan. LP — Sam Monk. Save — Lane Lorton. Two or more hits — Parkland: Charlie Marisca 2. DACC: Ryan DeGroot 2. 2B — Parkland: Marisca, Will Applegate. DACC: Kody Morton. RBIs — Marisca, Applegate, Josh Outlaw. DACC: Carter Wambach 2, Shea Zbrozek.
Sunday’s results
At Parkland
Game 1
Parkland 12, Danville Area 5
Danville Area `011 `102 `0 `— `5 `7 `5
Parkland `104 `043 `x `— `12 `9 `2
WP — Jaxon Christenson. LP — Nick Krueger. Two or more hits — DACC: Adam Evans 2, Drew Pinkston 2. Parkland: Josh Outlaw 2, Jacob Filip 2. 2B — DACC: Evans. Parkland: Tylor Phommachanhorn. 3B — Parkland: Filip. HR — Parkland: Luke Parmentier. RBIs — DACC: Pinkston 3, Kody Morton, Shea Zbrozek. Parkland: Filip 3, Outlaw 2, Jax Hisle 2, Parmentier, Ryan Snell, Adison Worthman.
Game 2
Danville Area 14, Parkland 12 (10 innings)
Danville Area `000 `605 `000 `3 `— `14 `10 `3
Parkland `332 `000 `120 `1 `— `12 `11 `3
WP — Shea Zbrozek. LP — Lane Lorton. Two or more hits — DACC: Zbrozek 2, Jackson Raaf 2. Parkland: Luke Parmentier 2, Will Applegate 2, Tylor Phommachanhorn 2. 2B — DACC: Ryan DeGroot, Nathan Edders, Brody Julian. Parkland: Parmentier, Applegate, Will Flanigan, Ryan Snell. RBIs — DACC: Zbrozek 2, DeGroot 2, Julian 2, Carter Wambach 2, Raaf, Edders, Brock Backus, Drew Pinkston, Brennon Reed. Parkland: Phommachanhorn 3, Parmentier 2, Flanigan 2, Applegate 1, Snell, Charlie Marisca, Josh Outlaw, Adison Worthman.
Records — Danville Area Community College 17-20 overall, 12-8 in the Mid-West Athletic Conference. Parkland 24-11 overall, 14-6 in the M-WAC.