MT. CARMEL, Ill. – Jonathan Hogart said he was seeing the ball well.
"I was seeing it big, just trying to send it up the middle and not do too much," said the Wabash Valley freshman outfielder.
He may not have seen the ball any larger than it was on Tuesday.
Hogart hit three home runs, falling just one blast shy of hitting for the home run cycle, in addition to driving in eight runs in a 16-3 WVC win over Shawnee in the first game of a Great Rivers Athletic Conference doubleheader.
It did not stop there. Though Hogart did not homer in the nitecap, he drove in four more runs in a 21-2 rout of the Saints.
That brought Hogart's final RBI count for the day up to 12.
"He has been our most consistent hitter all year," said Warrior coach Rob Fournier. "He stays within himself and is doing some things he is capable of doing.
"We're just trying to get out of his way and let him play."
Hogart's first home run, a solo shot in the fourth inning, tied the game at 1-1. Then, in the fifth, as part of a 10-run Warrior outburst, Hogart hit a 3-run blast to center field.
He would bat a second time in that frame but grounded out – the only time he was retired in five trips to the plate.
In the seventh, with one out and the bases loaded, Hogart took a 1-2 pitch and lined it over the center field fence for a grand slam that ended the game with a final of 16-3.
Hogart, missing only a 2-run homer, came tantalizingly close to a true baseball rarity. While hitting for the home run cycle has been accomplished at the collegiate level, it has never been done in MLB history and only once before in the minor leagues.
Wabash Valley (25-2, 9-1 in GRAC) picked up where it left off in the second game, scoring 11 runs in the first inning and cruising in from there. In the game, Warrior bats generated only one home run, but had 11 doubles instead.
Fournier said the relatively slow start on offense in the first game was because "our focus wasn't where it should have been. But we responded on our second and third at bats."
The Warriors take their nine-game winning streak on the road Friday, to open a four-game GRAC series at Rend Lake. After a doubleheader there, the two teams switch sites and play again on Saturday in Mt. Carmel.
WARRIOR NOTES: Hogart is now tied for the team lead in home runs (with Freylin Minyety) with six and has taken over the lead in RBIs (35). His slugging percentage has skyrocketed to .929, eighth best in the country, according to NJCAA Division I statistics… The Warriors have now scored 10 or more runs in five straight games, and in eight of the last 10.