Triton College Baseball Team Outlasts South Suburban in Extra Innings

It's never easy to win on the road. And for the Triton College baseball team, winning at South Suburban College in particular has been a challenge in recent years. But the Trojans finally got over the hump, defeating South Suburban at Bulldog Stadium for the first time since 2003 after their 8-7 triumph in 10 innings April 21 in South Holland.
The victory improved Triton to 26-12 overall as the defending Region IV champions earned their first regular season series sweep over the Bulldogs during Harry Torgerson's six seasons as head coach.
"It feels good to get a win at South Suburban," Torgerson said. "We've walked away from here on the short end of some tough games in the past. This win was nice to get going into what is a big weekend for us."
Triton will host North Central Community College Conference (N4C) rival Harper College, Saturday, April 24 at noon. Then on Sunday, April 25 at noon, Kishwaukee College will visit Symonds-Puckett Field with the number one seed in the Region IV Tournament hanging in the balance for the Trojans.
With the crucial stretch ahead, Torgerson went with a pitching-by-committee of four different hurlers against South Suburban to ensure everyone would be available over the weekend. However, the length of the game nearly spoiled those plans.
The Bulldogs scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game at six. South Suburban loaded the bases with one out after tying the score before Josh Serrano (East Leyden) picked up a strikeout and a groundout to force extra innings.
A.J. Quinones (Oswego) led off the 10th with a walk and advanced to third following a throwing error when Ricky Divito (Driscoll) beat out a bunt for a hit. With one out, Mike Bolling (Guerin Prep) reached on a fielder's choice as South Suburban failed to turn a double play which plated Quinones to give Triton a 7-6 edge.
With Carlos Luciano (Clemente) up, Bolling stole second and advanced to third when the throw from the catcher went into centerfield. Luciano made the Bulldogs pay with an RBI single to score Bolling to add a key insurance run. Luciano went 4-for-5 with four RBI's.
The Trojans needed that extra tally as South Suburban would score a run in their half of the 10th before Serrano got James Dawson to groundout harmlessly to Luciano at shortstop to seal the win.
Serrano tossed the final four innings to improve to 6-0 on the season.
For more information on Triton College Athletics, visit www.triton.edu/athletics or call Athletic Director Harry McGinnis at (708) 456-0300, Ext. 3784.
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