Radtke, Stevenson too much for Fremd

Tyler Radtke was one pitch away from personal history Saturday morning.

The drama and tension reached its peak as the Stevenson junior right-hander had an 0-2 count on Fremd junior Sean Stutzman in their Class 4A regional baseball championship game in Lincolnshire.

One more strike - and then the left-handed hitting Stutzman struck back with a line-drive single up the middle on a curveball to break up Radtke's no-hitter. Stutzman received a big ovation from his fans and Radtke got an appreciative hand from his fans.

But that was about all ninth-seeded Fremd (20-14) had to cheer about and the only drama that remained. Radtke got the next and final out to finish off a quick 11-0 victory in five innings as top-seeded Stevenson (31-3) won its second straight regional crown and 10th in its history.

"That's all that matters," Radtke said after narrowly missing the first no-hitter of his life.

"He threw great," said Stevenson senior left fielder Alex Daar, who hit a 3-run homer to set the final score in the fourth inning and caught the final out. "He gave us that little extra good feeling so we could hit for him. We felt pretty comfortable up there."

Radtke (8-0) needed only 56 pitches and 37 strikes to help Stevenson break the school record for victories (30 in 1987, 1996 and 1997) and advance to Wednesday's 4:15 p.m. sectional semifinal at Barrington. Next up is North Suburban Lake rival and fourth-seed Mundelein (25-10), which won its regional 9-8 over Highland Park.

The only other runner Radtke allowed was a walk to start the game to Evan Wright. Radtke turned a popped-up bunt into a double play.

"He was on today - and establishing the first-pitch strike was big for him," said Stevenson coach Paul Mazzucca after Radtke had 4 strikeouts and didn't go to another three-ball count until the final hitter. "Early on (this year) control had been his nemesis and he ran up his pitch count, but he has really been able to attack the strike zone the latter half of the season."

Radtke said his fastball didn't have its usual velocity but he mixed his changeup and curve to throw only 46 pitches before Stutzman's hit.

"Somebody let me know in the fourth inning so it was in my head, but I wasn't really focusing on it," Radtke said of the no-hitter. "I was trying to throw strikes and get outs. The kid got a good piece of the ball and he's a good hitter."

Stevenson got the only run Radtke needed on back-to-back doubles by Kory Cutler and Kyle Ruchim in a 2-run first. Cutler and Teddy Heiser (2-for-3) had 2-run doubles in a 5-run second off Stutzman.

The Mid-Suburban League champion Vikings also committed 4 errors. They were the last hope to keep the MSL from not having a team win a regional since 1976.

"We couldn't square it up and everything we threw they squared up," said Fremd coach Chris Piggott. "I thought we made some good pitches and they hit pitcher's pitches hard, too.

"I thought Sean was throwing his curveball well but they hit tough pitches. When you do that you're going to win a lot of games like they have."

Jeff Ferstein went 2-for-3 with a double and Michael Martin was 2-for-2 with an RBI single at the bottom of the Patriots' order. Daar's homer to center in the fourth was his first in a varsity game.

And two nice plays at shortstop by Ruchim and by right fielder Erick King were all part of a near-perfect Patriots' performance.

"(The defense) just brought it all day for me," Radtke said. "Our hitting was just unbelievable - they brought good pitchers today and we still hit them. We know what we can do and we know what we're capable of."