Hector's dash lifts JJC
SUGAR GROVE -- Hector Belen's teammates got out the needle and let him have it.
"Oxygen! Anybody got any oxygen?"
PHOTOs by john patsch/staff photographer
Even coach Wayne King agreed: "It was pretty funny watching Hector run around the bases. He runs like me."
Top-seeded Joliet Junior College scored nine times in the bottom of the fifth inning Friday afternoon to whip Clark State (Ohio) 16-6 and remain unbeaten in the Region IV Baseball Tournament at Waubonsee Community College.
Brandon Howard's fourth hit, a two-run single with a third runner scoring on an error, ended the game on the slaughter rule.
But the hot topic afterward was cleanup man Belen's tour of the bases for his two-run, inside-the-park home run as Clark State center fielder Jarrod Cagon dove but was unable to grab his hard line drive to left-center in the fourth inning. It came moments after Howard's go-ahead double and gave the Wolves a 7-4 lead.
"I tried to run my best," the 5-foot-10, 200-pound Belen said with a smile. "When I hit it, I thought he was going to catch it. Then I saw it get past him and I said, 'I gotta run.' "
At that point, Belen was thinking three bases. But when he rounded second?
"I saw Coach (King) jumping up and down and waving, so I just kept running," Belen said.
"I knew Hector had three made, and when he started getting there, I knew it would take a good relay, so I said, 'All right, throw us out,' " King said.
Belen, who was hitting .399 with two homers and a team-leading 54 RBIs entering the tournament, may be the most unlikely hitter in the lineup for JJC (43-11) to celebrate an inside-the-park homer. The freshman from Chicago Clemente High School said he never had one previously, and he is fully aware he may never have one again.
"The next time, I'm hitting it over the fence and I can trot around the bases," he said.
"I had an inside-the-parker a couple days ago, and I was winded," said Howard, the leadoff man and a true burner. "I can imagine how Hector felt. To see him go all the way around, it's surprising."
Belen did nothing but hit the ball hard all day. His first-inning sacrifice fly was scalded. His line drive to center in the third nearly sailed over the center fielder's head. And, he grounded a hard single to right in his final trip, finishing with three RBIs.
His teammates 1 through 9 joined in behind freshman right-hander Kevin Barnett as the Wolves advanced into today's 1 p.m. game against the tournament's other unbeaten, either Waubonsee or Rock Valley, who met later Saturday. JJC is expected to start its ace, Dillon Roark. If successful, the Wolves would need one victory in two games Sunday to punch their ticket to the Division III World Series May 17-22 at Tyler, Texas.
JJC splashed 16 hits around the Waubonsee diamond on the cloudy, cool afternoon, and truth be known, the devastation may have been worse in different conditions. Two or three long flyouts appeared to have a chance to be home runs but died deep in the outfield.
"We've been hitting pretty well the last couple of games," said JJC sophomore catcher Casey Colbert, who had three hits and three RBIs, including a two-run single on a 3-0 pitch in the nine-run fifth inning.
"I looked down and Coach (King) clapped, gave me the go-ahead on 3-0," Colbert said. "I knew a fastball was coming, so I tried to go get those two RBIs."
If he's in that situation again? "I hope he lets me hit again," Colbert said.
Roark, the designated hitter on this day, and Ryan Voitik chipped in with two hits apiece. Howard drove in three runs, Brett Velon two. Everyone in the lineup had at least one hit except for second baseman Tyler Thompson, but he contributed.
Thompson hit one of those long fly balls that appeared to have a chance to leave the yard, was hit by a pitch, walked and scored twice. He also made a superb defensive play, diving to stop a ground ball and throwing out the runner at first during Clark State's two-run top of the fifth. At the time, the play helped JJC escape the inning with a slim lead intact.
Barnett (7-1), a Joliet Township graduate, pitched for the first time in three weeks and went the five-inning distance. He allowed eight hits, though not all of them were hit on the button.
"He hit the spots he needed to hit," Colbert said. "There were a lot of Texas leaguers that they got, but Kevin did a good job coming back after being off for a while."
"This was ugly, but we'll take the 'W'," King said. "Barnett had a sore shoulder and hadn't pitched in three weeks, but I wanted to take a chance and get him back in there. They weren't exactly ripping him, and he got through five innings.
"We swung the bats some. We made some mistakes on the bases, but that's going to happen. We're aggressive."
The M.O. does not figure to change the rest of the weekend as the Wolves bid for their sixth Region IV title in succession, their ninth in 10 years and their 12th in 15 seasons.