Mt. Carmel, Illinois -- Needing two wins against home-standing Wabash Valley on the final day of the Northern District tournament, Indian Hills nearly accomplished the feat against the 17th-ranked team in the country. The Falcons, forced into the elimination bracket after an opening-game 4-1 loss to Wabash Valley on Friday, roared back with two wins on Sunday after a day off because of rain. IHCC disposed of Triton (Ill.), 5-2, then pounded Lincoln Trail (Ill.), 15-3 in five innings.
That meant the Falcons would need to knock off Wasash Valley twice Monday. After a tense 6-3 victory in the first game, the second contest was sc scoreless until a trey Beckman safety squeeze bunt in the bottom of the 9th brought hoome Diego Pichardo and sent Wabash Valley to this weekend's JUCO World Series in Grand Junction, Colorado.
Thus, Indian Hills' quest for its first World Series trip since 2004 came up just short. The Falcons finished the year with 41-20 record that inclluded a pair of wins against No. 9-ranked Iowa Western in the previous weekend's Region XI tournament to get into the district field. It represents an 18-win improvement over the 2016 season for Cam Walker's Falcons.
The game-winning squeeze play came against IHCC freshman Jared Spearing, who went the distance against Wabash Valley, just three days after he lasted only 1 2/3 innings against them in Indian Hills' opening game in the tourney. The bunt came on Spearing's 101st pitch. He allowed just six hits, walked three and fanned three. IHCC was held to five hits, two of them by sophomore Jacob Rhinesmith, a single and a double. Rhinesmith ended the season with a team-best .407 batting average. Ryan Humeniuk, Will Zimmerman and Colin Potrzeba had the other hits for the Falcons, all singles.
Wabash Valley scored single runs in the first three innings on the way to their 4-1 win Friday against the Falcons. Indian Hills was kept off the scoreboard by WV's Max Roberts for seven innings. Logan Parrett picked up the save. Each team had seven hits with Rhinesmith and Zach Fascia collecting two apiece for IHCC. Rhinesmith knocked in Dillon Nelson with the lone run. Indian Hills got a huge performance from Caleb Miley, who saved the pitching staff with 7 1/3 innings of relief work after replacing Spearing in the 2nd. He gave up only five hits and one earned run with one walk and three Ks.
Indian Hills stayed alive in the tournament with the 5-2 triumph against Triton. Jacob Thiessen pitched a strong nine-inning complete game to record his team-leading 8th win of the year. He permitted six hits and one earned with five strikeouts and two walks, improving his record to 8-2. Rhinesmith slugged his team-best 11th homer and singled, and Nelson had two hits and two runs scored.
The Falcons then made quick work of Lincoln Trail, pounding out 13 hits in the 15-3 rout that was over after five innings. Five IHCC hitters had two-hit games -- Luis Gimenez, Zimmerman, Fascia, Christian Pena and Hunter Capps, who had three RBIs. Ryan Humeniuk, Rhinesmith, Lane Harvey and Zimmerman all drove in two runs and Gimenez and Pena scored three apiece. Oracio DeLeon benefitted from the potent offensive attack, going the five-inning distance for the win.
Monday's first game against Wabash Valley, the third straight elimination game for the Falcons, saw IHCC grab a 6-1 lead wth two runs in both the 2nd and 5th innings. Starter Zachary Lauzon gave way to Joshmar Doran after Lauzon threw seven effective innings. Fascia came on to relieve Doran in the 8th and worked out of a jam after two runs had crossed the plte. Fascia then closed out WV in the 9th to set up the winner-take-all game. Pena had a triple and drove in three runs. Harvey and Zimmerman each singled and doubled and had two hits. Rhinesmith and Fascia also had two hits each.
Indian Hills will return a talented freshman class for the 2018 season with the goal of ending the JUCO World Series drought.