Sycamore tops Kaneland in pitchers' duel

ROCHELLE - After throwing four no-hit innings last week in the Class 3A Plano regional, Kaneland sophomore Anthony Holubecki picked up where he left off Wednesday against Sycamore in the Class 3A Rochelle sectional.

Holubecki, a tall right-handed flame thrower, didn't allow the Spartans a hit in the first four innings. The Knights also couldn't touch Sycamore starter Colan Treml, and the game stayed scoreless when Brett Weaver led off the bottom of the fifth.

Weaver got ahead in the count 1-0 and then connected on one of those fastballs, driving the ball over the left-field fence. That ended not only Holubecki's no-hit streak at 8 innings but also his shutout streak.

Weaver's homer, his fourth of the season and the program-record 31st for the Spartans, proved to be the only run in Sycamore's 1-0 victory.

"He throws hard," Weaver said of Holubecki, a Notre Dame commit. "He throws a lot harder than the average pitcher in high school baseball. He's hitting upper 80s, maybe lower 90s. That's tough to hit when you are adjusting from lower 80s and upper 70s that you usually see. His speed is hard to catch up with.

"I got a good fastball to hit and got ahold of one."

Sycamore (25-12) advances to Saturday's sectional championship game against the winner of Thursday's semifinal between Rockford Boylan and Rochelle.

Kaneland (18-16) officially did not have a hit against Treml, though there was a ball hit by Joe Panico ruled an error on the shortstop by the official scorer that several reporters and the Sycamore coaches had scored an infield single.

Treml improved to 6-2 and has won all three of Sycamore's postseason games with 18 straight scoreless innings. He retired the final 14 hitters Wednesday.

"I'm just trying to throw first-pitch strikes and throw my curve ball for a strike," said Treml who lost 2-1 to the Knights in the regular season. "I was painting the corners. I have my wipeout curve ball that is unhittable."

Holubecki finished with 9 strikeouts while allowing just 3 walks and 2 hits in 5 1/3 innings. He escaped a bases-loaded jam in the third by catching Nate Haacker looking on a 3-2 pitch after a long, tension-filled 8-pitch at-bat.

"You can't ask for much more from a kid in a sectional game than to go out and throw a 2-hitter," Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said. "He did great today. It's up to us to get better production at the plate.

"That one swing changes the outcome of the game. It's tough losing 1-0."

Kaneland's three best scoring chances came in the first three innings. Curtis Thorson reached on an error and stole second in the first, Panico did the same in the second, and Thorson again got on on a two-base error in the third.

Each time Treml left the runner stranded. He finished with 9 strikeouts and no walks throwing just 81 pitches.

Seven Kaneland hitters were retired on the first pitch as the Knights tried to get a fastball from Treml early in the count instead of being forced to hit his devastating breaking pitches later.

"We knew Treml likes to throw first-pitch fastball and we knew his slider and curve ball were nasty," Aversa said. "He got a couple of our guys off-balance when we were behind in the count. We didn't like being in that position so we were going to be aggressive with the first pitch."

Sycamore put runners at second and third with 1 out in the sixth to chase Holubecki. Nick Henne relieved and got the next two outs to keep it a 1-0 game, but the Knights went quietly 1-2-3 in the seventh with a pair of comebackers and a strikeout.

"We've played them four times this year and there's been 10 total runs scored," Sycamore coach Jason Cavanaugh said. "All the games locked up in the seventh inning. They are right there with us. We just happened to get this one."

Aversa praised his senior class afterward, a group that claimed just the second regional championship in school history.

"This last week has been awesome for all of us," Aversa said. "These kids could have easily packed it in after Senior Night. They have hung in there, picked each other up. (Nick) Stahl, (Tyler) Carlson, (Nate) Hopkins, Thorson, these guys are going to be irreplaceable. These seniors have been giving us their heart and effort all year."