Hanselmann, Cary-Grove outlast Barrington in classic

Hollywood storybook endings come rarely in high school baseball games.

But for left-handed pitcher Larkin Hanselmann at the Class 4A Jacobs regional Thursday in Algonquin, the way he led No. 2 seed Cary-Grove to a 1-0 walk off win over No. 3 Barrington in 9 innings, it couldn't have been scripted any better.

After tossing 7 strikeouts over 9 innings and surviving jams in the fourth, seventh and eighth innings, Hanselmann (2-for-4), who led off the ninth with a single over second base, eventually crossed the plate for the game-winning run when catcher Wyatt Mascarella was pegged in the back with the bases loaded and nobody out to advance the Trojans (24-8-2) into Saturday's regional final against top-seeded Jacobs at 11 a.m.

And if it was Cary-Grove's game to win, Hanselmann was the perfect person to score that run. After all, he allowed just 4 hits, 5 runners on base and stranded 4 runners in scoring position in what he said afterward was the best game he's ever pitched.

"Unbelievable ... If we didn't get the win that would have been horrible," Mascarella said. "You hardly see guys in the majors do that but some guys make a living doing that. He pitched unbelievable. He worked in, out, off-speed, everything was working today, he deserved it today, 110 percent."

"(Larkin) kept coming over and saying, 'I want the ball next inning,' " said Trojans coach Don Sutherland. "His pitch count has been up in the recent games. I was concerned about that but he was at 85 pitches in the ninth inning. He kept saying I want the ball and as long he's in the safe zone, which he was, there's nothing better."

Of his 96 total pitches, 74 went for strikes. Hanselmann induced 12 groundouts to 8 flyouts as his fastball hit the outer half consistently. When needed, Hanselmann would jam hitters with his curve to keep them off balance and then had his defense behind him snag flyballs thanks to an odd day at Jacobs with the wind blowing in.

"I saw a couple of balls go over their heads and the wind blew it back. (Outfielders Tyler Pennington, Jimmy Perkins and George Hartke) just ran everything down," Hanselmann said. "My arm was feeling good, my pitch count was actually really low. Normally I'm up there after five or six innings. I felt good and I just wanted to finish it."

Although Cary-Grove left 12 on base, the Trojans outhit the Broncos 6-4. But a hit or two more for Barrington (24-10) would have mightily supported pitcher Anthony Delaurentis, who had a gem of his own going as the pitchers duel between him and Hanselmann went six-strong. Jake Petersen was charged with the loss in relief but Delaurentis allowed just 4 hits, 4 walks and had 6 strikeouts on 119 pitches with his curveball, two-seam fastball and changeup working. He also went three-straight innings without a hit allowed.

"This was the one game where one run meant the most all season," Delaurentis said. "This was the biggest dogfight of a game probably my whole baseball career."

The Mid Suburban West champs, a team that hit 28 home runs this season, will look back at its squandered chances in the end. The Broncos had runners on second and third with one out in the fourth and couldn't make anything of it and didn't capitalize on a throwing error at first base in the eighth when Mitch Pfeiffer reached with one out. But Pfeiffer was stranded at third when Hanselmann thwarted a suicide squeeze, struck out Luke Johnson and forced Petersen to ground out to third.

"You don't need to strike out every batter, but that was a huge strikeout and he got the one he needed when we needed it," Sutherland said. "He couldn't have pitched any more confidently or better. And they're an outstanding hitting team."

It also didn't help the Broncos that the east-southeast win was blowing in. Twice Jake Coon hit it on the screws but the ball just wouldn't carry.

"I thought I squared up a couple of balls, they just hung up a little bit," Coon said. "It was frustrating that we weren't able to get that guy in. We were able to get him on and get him over. We just couldn't do that last part. It just goes to show you when you get two teams at the elite level one run makes a big difference."

"It's shame this game has to be an opening round playoff game," Broncos coach Pat Wire, a C-G alum, said. "But it's two great teams going at it and you know what, in the end you have to go through people who are great anyway and we knew what we were in for and what a heckuva baseball team on our end and a heckuva team on their end. That arguably is one of the better baseball games I've ever been around. That was unbelievable."