The Elgin Community College baseball team will begin play in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 4 Division II Baseball Sectional Tournament this week.
The men travel to Madison, Wis. on Friday to take on Madison Area Technical College at noon and 3 p.m. in a best of three series. If the games are split, the third and final game will be on Saturday at noon.
The Spartans (23-19 overall) are the No. 8 seed in the Region 4 Tournament, while Madison is the first seed. Other sectional matchups include No. 4 Black Hawk vs. No. 5 Carl Sandburg, No. 2 Kankakee vs. No. 7 Bryant & Stratton and No. 3 McHenry vs. No. 6 Lake County.
The winners of the Elgin/Madison series, Black Hawk/Carl Sandburg matchup, Kankakee/Bryant & Stratton games and the McHenry/Lake County series will advance to play in the NJCAA Region 4 Finals May 19-21 with the winner advancing to the NJCAA Division II World Series.
Game Day
Admission is $4 per day for adults, $2 for youth (11-17) and free for children 10 and under.
Madison is streaming the games at a cost. A 24-hour pass can be purchased for $5.95 or a weekly pass for $9.99.
Team Statistics
The Spartans were the Illinois Skyway Collegiate Conference (ISCC) runner-up with a 10-4 conference record. They enter the weekend with a .293 batting average and .413 on base percentage.
Erik Teran II leads the team in batting average (.371), hits (46) and RBI (35) and is third in slugging percentage (.532). Luis Rodriguez leads in on base percentage (.508) and stolen bases (13) and is second in batting average (.357). Derek Angelo has tallied a team-high 10 doubles, ranks second in hits (42) and third in batting average (.350).
Nik Panico and Nick Schumann lead the team in home runs (6) and runs (39) and are third in hits (38). Panico has the team-high slugging percentage (.586) while Schumann has registered the third-highest (.527). Schumann leads the RBI category with Teran (35) and is second in stolen bases (12).
Adrian Ruiz leads the pitching staff with a 2.38 earned run average in 34.0 innings with 41 strikeouts. Justin "JZ" Zimmerman has pitched 35.2 innings with a 3.53 ERA and 34 strikeouts.
Head Coach Bill Angelo
Angelo is in his 24th season at the helm of the program. He has led the Spartans to eight ISCC championships, six Region IV titles, and five trips to the World Series.
Angelo is a two-time ISCC Men's Sports Coach of the Year, six-time Region IV Coach of the Year and has been named the District Coach of the Year five times. He has been inducted into the ISCC and Region 4 Hall of Fame.
Angelo enters the NJCAA Tournament with a career record of 770-521-2 (.596).
The Regional Teams Versus Each Other
Madison (39-8) is the North Central Community College Conference champion and the top seed in this weekend's match-up. They dropped two games at Lake County on April 26 and narrowly edged Elgin 2-1 in game one on Sunday. The Wolfpack dropped one spot to No. 3 in the latest NJCAA Division II Poll.
Kankakee (41-14) is ranked 13th in the NJCAA Division II Poll and are the two-seed in the Regional. The Cavaliers dropped two games to Madison and one to Carl Sandburg, Elgin and Lake County during the regular season.
McHenry (36-16) is the ISCC champion and three-seed entering this weekend. The Scots are led by ISCC Pitcher of the Year, Player of the Year and Coach of the Year. Elgin handed the team its sole conference loss of the season with a 7-2 victory on April 19.
Black Hawk-Moline (32-18) suffered two losses to Madison, Kankakee and Carl Sandburg in the regular season.
Carl Sandburg (25-20) is the Arrowhead Conference champion and the fifth seed entering the weekend. The team fell to Madison three times and twice to Kankakee and Black Hawk.
Lake County (32-18) finished fourth in the ISCC and enters the sectional on a five-game winning streak. CLC dropped two games at Kankakee and McHenry and was once edged by Bryant & Stratton and Elgin. They are led by three First Team All-ISCC selections.
Bryant & Stratton (19-25) is the No. 7 seed and has lost to Madison, Kankakee, McHenry, Black Hawk twice and Lake County once.
