Westmont avoids upset against Timothy Christian
Regardless of records, seeds or playoff pedigree, there was no chance of Westmont's baseball team taking Timothy Christian lightly.
The Sentinels looked every bit their status as top seed during Wednesday's 8-1 victory in the Class 2A Timothy Christian regional semifinals in Elmhurst.
In the third straight regional semifinal meeting between the teams, this was by far the smoothest result for Westmont (27-8), which matched the program record for wins in a season. Two years ago Timothy Christian (11-14) upset the top-seeded Sentinels, and last year Westmont had to rally to beat the Trojans on its way to a third-place finish in the state.
It was again a struggle early against the Trojans on Wednesday, but Westmont's bats eventually picked up the pace and pitcher Austin Loehman improved to 8-0 with a complete-game effort in the face of cold, rainy conditions.
"We beat them 11-1 earlier in the year, but we knew coming in that that meant nothing," Loehman said. "We knew they were a good team and they were going to play with us. We couldn't come out here and lay an egg."
Timothy Christian hung with Westmont early, tying the game 1-1 on Josh Anderson's RBI single in the top of the second inning. The Trojans, however, stranded six runners in the first three innings - a stat that definitely came back to haunt them.
The Sentinels took the lead for good on Anthony Alessi's sacrifice fly in the bottom of the second. Andrew Rosol's 2-run single sparked a 3-run third, and an Anthony Powers run-scoring single led to 2 more runs in the fourth.
Westmont added another insurance run in the sixth on Rosol's second RBI single.
"The score doesn't look very good, but if we would have gotten a couple key hits in the first two or three innings, and we make a couple more plays, it's anybody's game," said Timothy Christian coach Jim Snoeyink. "We've got a young team and we're looking forward to next year, but we really believed going into today that we could win."
Loehman settled in after struggling the first three innings. A Charlie Donovan-started double play in the fourth inning began a stretch of 11 straight retired by the senior righty.
Westmont will play in Saturday's regional final against Thursday's semifinal winner between Lisle and IC Catholic Prep.
"I'm proud of the way our guys played and extended our season," said Westmont coach D.J. Cocks. "We played an excellent game in all three phases and that's why we're moving on."
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