Brignola and Co. deliver for Barrington
Barrington senior Anthony Brignola did not have any grand delusions when he came up with the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the sixth inning of a tie game with Notre Dame on Wednesday.
Not with the infield pulled in and the wind blowing in on a cold and drizzly day. Not with it looking as if the nonconference baseball game might be called at the end of the inning because of darkness.
The left-handed hitting Brignola pulled a 2-1 pitch through the right side to start a 4-run outburst and send Barrington (5-4) to a 9-5 victory at Kirby Smith Field.
"What was really going through my mind was don't strike out and don't pop up," said Brignola, who hit 8 homers last year. "I wanted to get a ball in play, especially with these conditions. I had to make sure I got on top of the ball and didn't strike out."
The skies brightened enough to give the Dons (5-2) a chance in the seventh against Illinois-bound lefty Robby McDonnell (2-1).
McDonnell didn't give them one. He struck out all four hitters he faced after coming in with the go-ahead run at third with two outs in the sixth.
"That's the way he's thrown all year," Brignola said of McDonnell, who has 49 strikeouts and only 5 walks this year. "With the conditions you knew they weren't going to be touching him."
Sean Buchholz allowed only 2 hits and had 8 strikeouts but also had 7 walks in 42/3 innings. A hit-and-run RBI single by Jack Wietlispach was Notre Dame's only hit in a 3-run third where two batters reached on dropped third strikes.
Tyler Tureck also had 2 strikeouts in an inning of relief.
"Their kids threw really well and they do a nice job," said fourth-year Notre Dame assistant coach Dominic Savino, who was an all-area player at Elk Grove. "I felt like our kids battled all day."
Notre Dame tried to tie it at 5-5 in the fifth on a first-and-third play but shortstop Jack Scheffler fired to catcher Doug Beath to nail Christian Rivera. Dons coach Bob Kostuch was ejected after arguing that obstruction should have been called on Beath.
Notre Dame did tie it in the sixth on Cody Neidenbach's two-out RBI single inside the right-field line. Jake Broughton's single started the Barrington sixth and he raced to third on an errant pickoff by pitcher Matt Moser (0-2).
Beath (2-for-3) struck out and Savino said he and pitching coach Mike Paskvan considered the potential of an early ending when they walked Scheffler and Jim Cook (2-for-3) to face Brignola.
"I've had to really adjust to stay back on the ball and not get too anxious," Brignola said. "It was a good at-bat for my psyche to be able to stay back."
Derek Foderaro, who had a first-inning RBI double, and McDonnell drew bases-loaded walks and Ricky Alfonso had a sacrifice fly in the sixth.
"I was happy with how we responded offensively," said Barrington coach Jim Hawrysko. "We're trying to work on doing what we're supposed to do and not doing too much. We're finally getting the hang of that."