Kaneland's rally falls short

The comeback kids finally met their match Wednesday afternoon.

After scoring 3 consecutive come-from-behind postseason victories, Kaneland's baseball team staged a few successful rallies before finally being turned away on a final comeback attempt in the bottom of the seventh inning during its 6-5 loss to Belvidere North in the Class 3A Sycamore sectional semifinals.

Trailing 4-1 after 4 ½ innings following Levon Smith's 2-run double, the Knights (22-13) scored a run in the fifth before adding a pair of sixth-inning runs to tie the game at 4-4.

Following back-to-back singles from Jacob Bachio and Matt Rosko, Jacob Violett (2-for-3) stroked a single to right-center that drove in Bachio to cut the deficit to 4-3.

When the Belvidere North center fielder mishandled the ball, Rosko raced home all way around from first to tie the game at 4-4 after 6 innings.

"That one could have been a back breaker (Smith's double) but we came back to get one and then two more to tie it up again," said Knights coach Brian Aversa. "They're a resilient group. It doesn't matter what the score is or how many outs there are - we're going to play the game through."

Seeking their first sectional title, the Blue Thunder answered with a 2-run seventh that included an RBI double by Smith - his fourth RBI of the afternoon.

"We put the pressure on them - sending one of our slower kids to home," said Belvidere North coach Jeff Dobbertin. "They had to make a play and it hit the lip (of the infield)."

Two batters later, Belvidere North scored an insurance run on an infield throwing error to make it 6-4.

The insurance run proved to be very important.

Down 6-4, Joe Panico (2-for-3, RBI) legged out an infield single on a slow roller to the right side to lead off the bottom of the seventh for the Knights.

"I knew I had to get on," said Panico. "I didn't want to make my last high school at-bat an out.

"I'm sure we all had the same thing in mind that we were going to come back. We've done it multiple times - even in the playoffs."

With 1 out, Nick Stratman delivered an RBI single as the Knights pulled within a run at 6-5.

However, Stratman was thrown out trying to advance to second and after Bachio reached on Belvidere North's fourth error of the game, Rosko's line drive was snagged by right fielder Nathan Bakulski to end it.

"Certainly the errors could have cost us but they didn't," said Dobbertin.

Smith, a junior, fired a complete game with 2 walks and 5 strikeouts for the Blue Thunder, who will face either St. Francis or Rock Falls in Saturday's sectional championship.

"He has been huge pitching for us all year," Dobbertin said of Smith. "He was going to get that last inning."

"That Smith kid did a great job on the mound," said Aversa. "He kept us off-balance. He had a couple strikeouts against guys who don't normally strike out.

"We stayed aggressive. They made the plays today. I think they caught us on a day where it's baseball. Sometimes a team can show up and beat another team."

It marked the end of the line for 10 Kaneland seniors, including Austin Wheatley, Kevin Fuchs, Steven Limbrunner, Jordan Bock, River Dunne, Danny Hammermeister, Colton Fellows, Panico, Bachio and Stratman.

"We all thought we could do it but we couldn't today," said Panico.