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Baseball: Carmel celebrates win, hopes for the best for Pett

If it was indeed the end, at least Connor Pett went out with a bang.

Pett is a senior infielder for the Carmel Catholic baseball team. A big hitter, too.

In fact, his last swing in an attempt for a hit on Saturday morning in an East Suburban Catholic Conference clash with Nazareth was so big that it popped his shoulder out of place. Again.

This is twice now that Pett has dislocated his left shoulder this season. The first time, in a game against St. Viator, he tore his labrum at the same time. Doctors told him that if he dislocated the shoulder again, he would likely be shut down for the season.

Pett smashed a double that brought in 2 runs as part of a big 8-run second inning for Carmel, which went on to shut out Nazareth 10-0 in six innings.

In his next at-bat, Pett swung hard and felt the shoulder pop again. It was a fly out to right field. He never returned to the game.

"It's a sad day, because I'll be shut down for the season," Pett said. "If I could have kept the shoulder from dislocating again, I was going to play through the torn labrum and get surgery after the season.

"But now that it's out again, chances are, I'm going to shut it down and it's tough. It's just tough. This is all just kind of hitting me right now. This is my senior season and I want to keep playing. But if it keeps dislocating it can cause bone damage and I want to be able to play again. I'm going to have to figure out what's next."

Pett would like to continue playing baseball in college. He says Western Michigan was scouting him at his game on Monday. He's also looking at Wisconsin-Lacrosse.

He will have surgery as soon as possible. He'll likely be a cheerleader for his teammates the rest of the season.

"Connor had been on fire in conference," Carmel coach Bill Taylor said. "He's a real big part of what we do."

Pitcher Chris Baumann was a big part of what Carmel did to Nazareth.

Baumann started the game and also finished it to get his third win of the season (3-2, 2 saves). He gave up just 2 hits (both to Nazareth centerfielder Joe Muscolino) and 4 walks over six innings. He also rolled up five strikeouts and kept the Roadrunners off the board.

"I just went out there and pitched my game," Baumann said. "In my bullpen (before the game), I felt like some pitches were working better than others so that's what I focused on in the game and it worked out. My fastball on the outside part of the plate was working well and my curveball was working really well.

"This was my best outing of the year so far. Any time I can go out there with a big cushion it helps me stay within myself and not do too much."

Carmel (9-5, 4-3 ESCC) scored 8 runs off of just 2 hits in the second inning, some off of walks and Nazareth errors.

"They walked a few guys and made a few mistakes and we took advantage," Taylor said. "We had some guys come up with some big hits and come through. We've had some big innings like that this year. We've been up and down at times, but we've had some explosive innings. I think it shows what we're capable of. Hitting can be contagious and once one guy gets going, the next guy just follows."

Carmel and Nazareth were supposed to play a doubleheader. But the second game was cancelled due to rain.

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