Wheaton leads Northbrook 11-3 in suspended game

Wheaton’s bats were booming Thursday at the American Legion state baseball tournament when lightning and a thunderstorm came rolling into Mattoon.

A heavy downpour forced a suspension of play as Wheaton (30-10) was about to hit in the top of the eighth inning with an 11-3 lead on Northbrook (43-8) at Grimes Field. A decision will be made early this morning on when they will resume play, but Wheaton coach Jerry Miller thought it would be around 10 a.m.

Moline (40-6) and Fairview Heights (28-10) would play their postponed game after that, followed by Danville (25-13) against the Wheaton-Northbrook loser. The Wheaton-Northbrook winner would come back to play the Moline-Fairview Heights winner.

The rain put on hold Wheaton’s hopes of finally avenging 3 regular-season losses to Northbrook. Kevin Fahey, Tate Fritz and Charlie McGinnis all went 3-for-4 and Ryan Gallagher was hit twice and walked twice in support of starter Andrew Mamlic.

“Right through the lineup everybody was on and our defense was unbelievable again,” Miller said. “It was one of our best all-around games. We’ve really come together here in the playoffs.”

Mamlic went all 7 innings and gave up his first earned runs (2) in 66 innings this summer. The right-hander had 7 strikeouts.

“He didn’t have his best stuff but that kid pitched a great game against a really good Northbrook team,” Miller said. “He kept them off-balance and had a great slider.”

Miller said he was not sure who would come back and finish the game on the mound against Northbrook.