Hampshire’s Anthony Karbowski hasn’t seen his senior season go according to plan this spring.

Especially at the plate, Karbowski feels he has run into some bad luck with hard-hit balls going right at players. That was on his mind with a chance to give the Whip-Purs the lead Wednesday.

As his sharp grounder went toward second base, he went into wish mode.

“The kid dove and he almost got it and I was like, ‘Oh, no,’” Karbowski said, shaking his head. “When it went through I was like, ‘Thank you.’ I needed one. I was so relieved.”

The senior first baseman breathed that sigh of relief after his two-run single in the fifth inning broke a 3-3 tie and stood up for a 5-3 Fox Valley Conference win over Dundee-Crown.

Wilson Wemhoff added two hits, including an RBI double, for host Hampshire (20-7, 7-7). Nathan Wians picked up the pitching win with 4 1/3 innings of scoreless relief.

Ethan Ward came up with two hits and an RBI for Dundee-Crown (10-15, 3-11), which dropped its fifth straight game.

Regardless, Karbowski has made his hits count this season, picking up 22 RBIs on 21 hits. Still, Hampshire coach Frank Simoncelli was happy to see him come through in the clutch.

“He has been hitting the ball hard at times where it’s just been right at guys,” Simoncelli said. “Sometimes, that’s how it goes. You get to where you can’t buy anything, hitting it right at them.

“I was happy for him because he’s been putting in the work.”

Karbowski, recruited to Louisville as a left-handed pitcher, hasn’t had the season he expected on either side of the ball.

His last outing against Cary-Grove, where he threw four scoreless innings and struck out 10, may signal a turnaround, though.

“I ended my travel ball season with a bad start and it kind of stuck with me,” Karbowski said. “I wasn’t very competitive on the mound. I was very mechanical.

“Last outing, I finally tapped into that competitive side. I’ve been just hammering the mental side of just going out there and competing, stop being so mechanical.”

Simoncelli walked away from that outing with a similar feeling, seeing that competitiveness perk up. And he also knows the main hurdle has been walks.

In 22 2/3 innings, Karbowski has 46 strikeouts, but he has also walked 28.

“He’s not getting hit — it’s the control,” Simoncelli said. “We talk to him about staying confident, moving the arm angle a little bit.

“It’s more believing you’re going to throw that strike and not be afraid to give up that hit. Then just the competitiveness, he felt it. I saw it, but he felt it. That’s good if we can get him back on track.”

Dundee-Crown led 2-0 going into the bottom of the second inning Wednesday. Wians and his nasty change-up stymied the Chargers the rest of the way, however.

“He put the ball over the plate and we just couldn’t take advantage of it,” Dundee-Crown coach Andrew Zimmer said. “I was waiting for us to hit a gap. He quieted us down for sure.”

Hampshire started the fifth with three straight walks to set up Karbowski, who smacked the winner into right-center.

“It’s huge to finally see one go through and pitch in for this team,” he said.

While Karbowski hopes recent developments turn around his season on the mound and at the plate, the Whip-Purs want to do that as a team as well.

Karbowski isn’t the only player who has scuffled a little bit for the Whip-Purs. But if they can get right, Simoncelli understands the type of a team he has.

“We’re starting to get there a little bit,” Simoncelli said. “As we all know, it just takes a little bit to get hot. If you can get hot right before the playoffs, anything can happen.”

Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.