St. Edward hangs on to down Streamwood

The St. Edward baseball team nearly snatched defeat from the jaws of victory Friday afternoon.

Good thing Karl Bibler threw the right pitch in a surreal situation to preserve the Green Wave's wild 5-4 nonconference victory over host Streamwood.

With the bases full of Sabres and one of Streamwood's more dangerous hitters at the plate, Bibler threw a 2-2 curveball that Junior Alvarez softly lined toward second baseman Vicente Camerena.

Camerena nearly caught the liner, but when he realized he hadn't, he calmly picked up the ball and fired to first baseman Jake LaFrenz to end the contest.

"I told the guys I was more nervous today than at my wedding or my kids' birth," St. Edward coach Tim Dovichi said with a laugh, as his team improved to 5-7. "My heart was racing. Those are the exciting games. Those are the ones you like to win. Just scrap something together."

To understand the importance of the bottom of the seventh Friday, you have to start with the top of the frame, where Alvarez entered on the mound in relief of Erik Williams, who looked sharp in his first varsity start. Alvarez went 1-2-3 to give his team and, ultimately, himself a chance to win in the bottom half.

The bottom half started off innocently enough. St. Edward starting pitcher Alex Lara walked Streamwood's Joey O'Halloran, which prompted Dovichi to replace him with Bibler, the center fielder. Lara moved to center field.

Bibler struck out Jose Aguilar looking, and then Green Wave catcher Joe Esposito gunned down O'Halloran trying to steal second.

Looking good for St. Edward, right?

Wrong.

The Sabres' Hayden Holota beat out an infield hit, and so did Zach Campbell, reaching base on a hard shot deep in the hole at shortstop. Bibler then weakened, walking Tim Crom to load the bases. Dovichi returned to the mound, with one simple message.

"Just clean it up - that's all you can do," he said. "Forget about the last play and clean it up. Go after the next one. You've got to want the ball."

Alvarez loomed on deck with a chance to the hero. But five pitches later, it was over and St. Edward had escaped, much to the pleasure of both Bibler and Lara.

"I wanted to go out there and get three outs, but I walked a guy and coach said if I walked someone or got anyone on base, Bibler was going to come in and take over," Lara said. "And then we had bases loaded and it was giving me a heart attack."

Never fear, Bibler was in control.

"It was a tough situation, but I love those high-pressure situations," said Bibler, who recorded the save. "I'm trying not to think, honestly. Thinking is usually when it goes wrong. I was just trying to stay calm, trying to focus on the catcher and throw strikes."

Across the field, Streamwood coach Ryan Lasota was left wondering what might have been, as his team fell to 3-9.

"We've had a lot those, unfortunately," Lasota said. "We've had a lot of tight losses, where one big hit, one big play changes the outcome of the game. We've been getting the runners in scoring position, and that's been our Achilles' heel, so to speak. (In the seventh) I'm hoping for a gapper, something to get through, we've waving them and walk-off magic."

Despite the fact that his team came up short, Alvarez did everything he could to give the Sabres a chance. In addition to his relief stint in the top of seventh, he added a 2-run single in the bottom of the first, then reached on a hit by pitch in the sixth, with courtesy runner Keagan Cordone coming around to score on a throwing error.

But in the end, Alvarerz was wishing for a do-over in his final at-bat.

"I'm thinking I should have done better than that," Alvarez said. "I'm meant for that job, hitting cleanup, I should be getting all those runs in. It's tough. It was a good curveball, it caught me off guard. I had to loop it over a bit."

Lara got the win by giving up all 3 earned runs on 5 hits in 6 innings of work, while striking out 6. He also went 2-for-4 at the plate with a triple and run scored.

Crom went 1-for-3 with a single, a walk and a run scored for Streamwood.

But in addition to trouble with runners in scoring position, the Sabres committed 4 errors, with 2 leading to St. Edward runs.