Kaneland shuts down opponent’s stars

JOLIET — After Kaneland senior Bobby Thorson bashed another opposite field home run last week in sectional play during the Knights’ improbable run to the state title — his seventh to the opposite field out of his 8 homers — Knights coach Brian Aversa joked to reporters not to mention that in the paper.

“If other teams want to know that, they need to come scout us,” Aversa quipped.

Aversa and his coaches certainly did their homework this weekend at the Class 3A state tournament in Joliet.

Kaneland knew just which hitters could give them trouble and did an outstanding job not letting the other team’s stars beat them.

It was just one of many things Kaneland did well, including — in no particular order — lights-out defense, clutch hitting, stellar pitching and team contributions from 1-9 throughout the lineup.

The way Kaneland held down stars from Waterloo and Oak Forest speaks to how well prepared the Knights were. They enjoyed great success — and created plenty of frustration — in holding down some of the best hitters in the state.

On Friday, Cubs draft pick and Waterloo’s No. 3 hitter Garrett Schlecht went 0-for-2 against Bobby Thorson.

Frustrated? Sure, but that was nothing compared to what Oak Forest’s No. 3 hitter Tim Barry had to say Saturday. Barry, entering with his 12 home runs, went 1-for-4 with just a seventh-inning single.

“Very frustrating because every high school pitcher has to pitch around me because they are a bunch of babies,” Barry said. “They can’t test their abilities against a really good hitter, especially myself. A really good pitcher can pitch against a really good hitter no matter what.”

Babies? I think state champion is a better way to describe Kaneland pitchers Drew Peters and Kyle Davidson.

Or intelligent pitchers doing what needs to be done to win a game ... and doing it in high pressure situations like Barry’s first 2 at-bats.

Barry obviously was focused on the game Saturday and not all the IHSA “Add-A-Tude” commercials that kept flashing on the big scoreboard. Otherwise he would know it’s not good sportsmanship to call the pitchers that just beat you “babies,” and it’s not Kaneland’s job to give you more than “one fastball in my zone” — it’s Kaneland’s job to get you out and win the game.

Barry came up in both the first and third innings with two runners on base, and both times Peters retired him. First on a pop-up to second baseman Brian Dixon, the next time on a comebacker that Peters turned into a 1-6-3, inning-ending double play.

“I knew he was their big hitter,” Peters said. “I knew I had to be careful with him. I was pitching him low, outside. The ball moves a lot I guess, he couldn’t get quite on it. I got him out pretty easily but there were some other guys I couldn’t get out as easily. Overall it was great.”

Several teams have walked Barry intentionally this year. Kaneland went after him and it worked. Getting out of those early jams proved to be a momentum boost in the Knights’ 11-3 victory.

“We weren’t going to let him beat us,” Aversa said. “We handled him perfectly today. The park is big enough we had confidence in our guys. We’re going to challenge guys.”

Peters, 1-1 in an injury-plagued regular season, won four of Kaneland’s seven postseason games to finish 5-1. He gave up a leadoff single and hit the next batter Saturday before settling down.

As it turns out, Barry, Oak Forest’s best hitter, was the first batter he retired.

“The beginning there was a lot of butterflies,” the junior lefty said. “But I knew our hitting would be huge. We’ve been doing that all postseason.”

Winning games — and championships — the Kaneland way. They play intelligent, they execute, they come through in the clutch, and they come prepared.

jlemon@dailyherald.com