Brening Hits 3 Homers, Whiffs 10 in Chargers’ Sweep of IVCC
Aaron Frey
Tuesday, April 18, 2017 8:24 PM
Athletics
Galesburg, IL
Levi Brening (Coon Rapids, Minn./DuQuoin) homered three times and the Carl Sandburg College baseball team swatted five for the afternoon as the Chargers hammered Illinois Valley in an Arrowhead Conference sweep Tuesday afternoon at the William “Bill” Hungate Baseball/Softball Complex. Sandburg took the opener 13-3 in six innings and Game 2 8-2 as it wrapped up a home-and-home series with the Eagles.
The Chargers (20-14, 7-3) never trailed in either game, didn’t commit an error, outhit IVCC 24-9 and scored in 10 of their 12 innings at the plate.
Brening led the onslaught in Game 1 with a pair of homers — a two-run shot in the fourth and solo shot in the sixth — three runs scored and three driven in. Payton Hartbank (Mattoon, Ill./Mattoon) and Shane Coleman (Abingdon, Ill./Abingdon-Avon) also knocked in three in the opener. Coleman collected three hits and scored twice, and Hartbank’s solo homer in the sixth ended the game via the mercy rule.
That was more than enough to back sophomore hurler Matt Trouten (Moline, Ill./Moline), who went the distance and allowed just three hits — all solo homers. He struck out six and walked one to improve his record to 5-3 overall and 3-0 in conference action.
In Game 2, Brening smacked a two-run homer, drove in three more runs and picked up the victory on the mound with 10 strikeouts over six innings. The win ran his record to 7-1 overall and matched Trouten’s 3-0 mark in Arrowhead action.
IVCC evened the score at 2-2 in the fourth, but the Chargers regained the lead in the bottom half on Coleman’s two-out RBI double. Coleman drove in two in the nightcap, while Jordan Chandler (Erie, Ill./Erie) went 3 for 3 with a walk and two runs scored.
Hartbank and shortstop Angel Figueroa (East Chicago, Ind./Bishop Noll) each had two of the Chargers’ 13 hits, and second baseman Nolan Ard (Carthage, Ill./Illini West) drilled a solo homer in the second for Sandburg.
The Chargers will host Illinois Central in a nine-inning game at 3 p.m. Wednesday before returning to conference play with a home doubleheader at noon Saturday against Sauk Valley.