Mamlic pitches Wheaton to crown

There was some question whether Wheaton right-hander Andrew Mamlic finally gave up his first earned run of the summer in Friday’s Second Division American Legion baseball championship game at Barrington.

There was no question Mamlic was in control as he has been all summer. He scattered 8 hits and improved to 8-0 as Wheaton (29-10) advanced to the state tournament for the second time in three years with a 4-1 victory over Barrington.

“The guy is unbelievable — he’s one of the best pitchers I’ve seen in awhile,” Barrington coach Pat Wire said. “One of our kids said it’s like he’s up there throwing whiffle balls.”

Wheaton credited the only run off Mamlic as unearned as he had 7 strikeouts and 3 walks and threw 124 pitches. Wire and Wheaton coach Jerry Miller said Mamlic didn’t throw quite as hard as the first time he pitched against Barrington this summer, but Mamlic was still throwing in the mid-80s to send his team to the state tournament in Mattoon, where it will open at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday against the Fourth Division champion.

“He had his slider going today really well,” Miller said of Mamlic, who has given up only 3 unearned runs this summer in 59 innings according to Wheaton’s statistics. “All season he’s been blowing kids away.”

Barrington (25-18) got a title shot by beating 10th District rival Lake Zurich 8-7 on Dan Kubiuk’s two-out RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning in Friday’s first game. But Wheaton jumped to a 4-0 lead after three innings as Lake Bachar went 3-for-5, catcher Mike Rothstein went 2-for-5 and Mamlic had a 2-run single.

Miller said Wheaton “played some great defense” with shortstop Colin Ford, third baseman Eric Bacon and Rothstein leading the way. Outfielder-first baseman Ryan Gallagher received a $1,000 American Legion scholarship as the team’s tournament MVP.

Max Redpath came back after beating Lake Zurich in relief to throw 6 shutout innings to keep Barrington in the game and Jake Petersen went 2-for-3. But Mamlic got out of a first-and-third threat in the ninth.

“Redpath was a monster and I’m really proud of him,” Wire said. “I couldn’t be any more proud of our guys. They battled all the way to the end.”

Kubiuk’s double capped a comeback from a 7-3 deficit against Lake Zurich. Kubiuk came in when Scott Nelson, who had a 2-run double, had to leave the game after getting hit with a pitch in his left arm.

Mitchell Pfeiffer went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI, Notre Dame-bound catcher Ryan Lidge went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Petersen and Redpath had 2 hits apiece. Wyatt Trautwein went 6 innings before Redpath came in to get the victory.

Greg Gerrard earned a $1,000 Legion scholarship as Barrington’s tournament MVP after throwing a complete-game shutout Thursday.