Marian Catholic holds off Hilltoppers in ESCC South opener

In the bottom of the third inning with two outs, senior center fielder Greg Ziegler’s 3-run bomb over the left field fence brought the Hilltoppers within 5-3 after three innings. In the fourth inning, senior DH Tony Fleischauer’s clutch two-out RBI single pulled the Hilltoppers within 5-4 after four innings.

A costly error in the top of the seventh inning allowed the third Spartan unearned run to score, for a 6-4 Spartan lead.

In the bottom of the seventh inning, Danny Allen’s one-out double gave Hilltopper fans hope. Marian Catholic reliever, Alex Gonzales, closed out the Hilltoppers on back-to-back strikeouts.

Senior Mike Gurka allowed the only unearned run in the seventh, in his three hitless innings of relief to keep the Hilltoppers in the game.

“We didn’t start out the way we wanted too but this team always battles,” Gurka said. “I was able to get ahead of the hitters with my fastball and then use my slider and curve ball. We will be fine in the ESCC South.”

Senior second baseman Chris Knapczk singled to leadoff the sixth inning for the only other Hilltopper hit.

“We knew this would be a tough game with two good pitchers on the mound,” Ziegler said. “Mike Gurka, threw his best game ever as a Hilltopper, to keep us in the game.  It felt really good to hit the three-run homer. Hit a fastball up for my second home run of the season.”

“We battled back after falling behind 5-0,” Fleischauer said. “Greg’s three-run homer was huge and I was able to get the big two-out hit, to get us within 5-4. We then just fell apart at the end. “

“We dug ourselves a hole giving them four runs on only two hits, in the first two innings” Joliet Catholic head coach Jared Voss said. “Mike Gurka did a great job for us in relief, to keep us in the game. We battled and had some great two out hits but we can’t have three strikeouts in the bottom of the seventh.”

Nazareth                      9-0-1      0-0

Marist                            5-2        0-0

Benet                            6-6        0-0

Joliet Catholic              10-4       0-1