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From the Ottawa Times

Earlville 1, Plano 0

At Earlville, the Red Raiders improved to 4-3 on the season with a nonconference win over the Reapers.

Earlville tallied the contest's lone run in the bottom of the third inning, getting an RBI single from Mike Gast. The one run was plenty of support for Red Raider starting pitcher Matt Tucker who allowed two hits, to go along with seven strikeouts and two walks in the complete game win.

Josh Wright (triple) and Nick Preston had the two Plano (3-6) hits. Ben Heller suffered the loss, allowing no earned runs on three hits, while striking out 11 and walking one.

At Earlville

Earlville/Leland 1, Plano 0

PLANO (0) -- Priesman cf 3-0-0-0, Preston 3b 3-0-1-0, Bott ss 3-0-0-0, Gwilt 1b 2-0-0-0, Brown dh 3-0-0-0, Jensen rf 2-0-0-0, Day lf 3-0-0-0, O'Hara c 2-0-0-0, Wright 2b 2-0-1-0, Heller p 0-0-0-0. Totals 23-0-2-0.

EARLVILLE (1) -- Gast lf 2-0-1-1, Nordlund 3b 1-0-0-0, Hartman 3b 2-0-0-0, Tucker p 3-0-1-0, Bickel c 2-0-0-0, Brockman ss 2-0-0-0, Mattson rf 2-0-0-0, Frieders 1b 2-0-0-0, Johnson dh 2-1-1-0, Stockley cf 2-0-0-0, Knowles 0-0-0-0. Totals 20-1-3-1. Plano            (3-6) 000 000 0 -- 0

Earlville/leland (4-3) 001 000 0 -- 1

E -- Plano 2, Earlville 1. DP -- Plano 1, Earlville 1. LOB -- Plano 4, Earlville 1. 3B -- Wright. SB -- Jensen 2, Preston, Gwilt, Gast. K -- Heller 11, Tucker 7. BB -- Heller 1, Tucker 2. WP -- Tucker. LP -- Heller.

Other Area Scores

Ottawa 10, Kewanee 0 (5 inn)

At King Field in Ottawa, the Pirates opened up NCIC play with a five-inning victory over the Boilermakers.

Chris Brusatte (double, two runs, two stolen bases), Austin Monroe (two runs, RBI, two stolen bases) and Mitch Johnson (two RBI) all went 2-for-2 to lead the Ottawa offense.

Five different Pirate pitchers (Corey Kimes, Mike Lamb, Cody Christenson, Bobby Thrush, Jared Mundt) combined to allow four hits, to go along with nine strikeouts and one walk. Mundt was credited with the win.

"We have not played since Saturday, so I thought we migth be rusty, but we played great," Ottawa coach Randy Bretag said. "I was able to get all 21 players into the game and use five different pitchers."

Newark 8, Seneca 4

At Newark, the Norseman improved to 5-1 on the season after a nonconference victory over the Fighthing Irish.

Seneca led 2-1 until the bottom of the fourth inning, before Newark put up six runs in that frame.

Kyle Janssen had three hits and scored two runs to lead the Norseman offense. Brian McGrath (two runs) and Mitch Dunlap both added two hits apiece. Adam Marcley had a two-run single. Brian McGrath recorded the win on the mound.

"We've got to stop shooting ourselves in the foot," Irish coach Kirk Houchin said. "Newark is a very good team. They are the best Newark team I've seen in a while, and coach (D.J.) Cocks is doing a very nice job with them."

Matt Musser had two hits, including a doubleto lead the Seneca (3-7) offense. Tim Schmanske, Alex Spicer and Garrett Callahan all doubled. Seth Hobbs was charged with the loss, despite not allowing an earned run and striking out five.

Indian Creek 13, Paw Paw 1 (6 inn)

At Paw Paw, the Timberwolves picked up a Little Ten Conference victory over the Bulldogs.

Indian Creek built a 4-1 advantage after four innings, before putting up five runs in the top of the fifth inning and three more the following frame to break the game open.

"Offensively, we had another solid night," T-Wolves coach Miek Madsen said. "For the most part we were patient in our plate appearances, this was evident in the 10 walks we drew. However, some of our guys may have been trying to do a little too much at the plate, and they will have to have better at-bats tomorrow (Friday) if we are to come away with another win."

Graham Gletty pitched six innings, allowing one hit, to go along with 12 strikeouts and nine walks to record the win. He also went 2-for-3 with three RBI and three runs scored to lead the IC offense. Chris Tidwell (three RBI) and Greg Hess both doubled.

Wednesday

Mendota 15, Somonauk 5

At Somonauk, the Trojans improved to 4-3 on the season after five-inning nonconference road victory over the Bobcats.

Daniel Ganz and Brock Blankenhagen both had three hits apicece to lead the Mendota offense. Brock Zinke and Erick Weber added two each. Andres Espinoza recorded the win on the mound.

Newark 7, Aurora Christian 0

At Newark, the Norsemen improved to 4-1 on the season with a nonconference victory over Aurora Christian.

Newark tallied a run apiece in the bottom of the third and fourth innings, before putting up five runs in the bottom of the sixth.

Winning pitcher Kyle Janssen tossed a four-hit shutout on the mound, while striking out 10 and walking one. He also had two hits and scored two runs. Patrick Quantock had two hits. Mitch Dunlap added a two-run double.

Mendota 15, Somonauk 5 (5 inn)

At Somonauk, the Trojans picked up a nonconference win over the Bobcats.

Mendota scored three times each in the first and fourth innings, before putting up nine runs in the top of the fifth.

Matt Hochstatter (double) and Steve Wiesmiller (two runs) both had two hits to lead the Somonauk offense. Jeremy Giesholt added a double. Ben Johnson was charged with the loss on the mound.

PREP BASEBALL: It's Huskers' turn to stun Marquette

The Serena Huskers, many of whom were on the basketball squad that won 25 games but lost twice on last-second shots to Marquette, came up with a few late heroics themselves Thursday at Ottawa's Masinelli Field, scoring three runs in the top of the seventh inning for a 3-1 victory over the Crusaders.

Winning pitcher Jeremy Foreman followed a bases-loading intentional walk with the game-tying single, then with two out, Connor Finley delivered the game-winning, two-run single to keep the Huskers unbeaten in six games.

Both Foreman and Finley were starters for the Serena hoops club that lost at Marquette on a last-second shots. Ironically, Marquette (5-3) loaded the bases with two out in the home seventh for John Kuhn, who made the buzzer-beater in the first hoops win, but this time grounded out to end the game.

Making the game an all-round joy for Serena was that head coach Chad Baker missed the contest to witness the birth of his son, Carson McNamara, just about an hour before gametime.

"I guess it was a pretty good day for us," said Huskers assistant Jonathan Immel. "Today it was about the kids, there's a little rivalry there because of those games and they're excited. I was at the regional game and it was a great basketball game, just like this was a great baseball game.

"In those first six innings, we didn't play very good fundamental baseball, but Jeremy kept throwing strikes to keep us in the game until the kids finally broke through."

Kuhn put the Cru in front in the first, beating out an infield hit, then sliding in safe at second when Kevin Morrissey's grounder was thrown too wide. Thumm walked and Tom McConnaughhay hit a sacrifice fly to left for the Cru tally.

It appeared that run might hold up. Thumm, who had already worked out of a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the first, settled down to allowed only three hits in the first six innings. Foreman was equally tough after the first, retiring 14 of the next 16 Crusaders but facing only one batter over the minimum over the next five frames.

But in the seventh, Thumm walked the No. 9 hitter, Cooper Westvig, who was then running when Dallas Kempiak executed the perfect hit-and-run, grounding through the vacated right side. Westvig made it to third and Kempiak second.

Charlie Boyd, who already had two hits, was then intentionally walked to fill the bags for Foreman, who slammed the first pitch to center to score Westvig. With two out, Finley plated the winning runs with a line drive single to left-center.

"J.C. pitched a great game," said Hopkins. "We just made dumb plays behind him and that's what cost us. We're making mental mistakes and we're not thinking under pressure. ... (Foreman) pitched a great game, came through with a hit and so did (Finley). Credit them, but we've got people making mistakes and they're the same people every time. They have until this weekend to straighten up or they'll be sitting the rest of the year."

The Cru tried to answer when, with two out, Levi Reeder and Jordan Jessen singling and Abernathy drawing a walk. However, Kuhn slammed a hard grounder to Boyd at third, who threw to Mason to complete the win.

At Ottawa

Serena 3, Marquette 1

SERENA (3) -- Kempiak ss 4-1-1-0, Boyd 3b 3-1-2-0, Foreman p 3-0-1-1, Haines cf 4-0-1-0, Finley 2b 4-0-1-2, Kuetemann c 2-0-0-0, Terry lf 3-0-0-0, Mason 1b 3-0-0-0, Westvig rf 1-1-0-0. Totals 27-3-6-3.

MARQUETTE (1) -- Kuhn lf 4-1-1-0, Morrissey 2b 3-0-0-0, J.C. Thumm p 2-0-0-0, Gama 1b 3-0-0-0, McConnaughhay c 2-0-0-1, Cottingham 3b 1-0-0-0, Jared Thumm 3b 1-0-1-0, Weidmann ph 1-0-0-0, Reeder ss 3-0-1-0, Jessen dh 3-0-1-0, Armstrong rf 0-0-0-0, Abernathy cf 2-0-0-0. Totals 25-1-4-1. Serena    (6-0) 000 000 3 -- 3

Marquette (5-3) 100 000 0 -- 1

E -- Serena 3, Marquette 1. LOB -- Serena 9, Marquette 6. SF -- McConnaughhay. SB -- Foreman, Finley, Kueteman, Westvig. HBP -- Foreman (by J.C. Thumm). K -- Foreman 6, J.C. Thumm 10. BB -- Foreman 2, Thumm 5. W -- Foreman. L -- J.C. Thumm.