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Baseball: Murphy, Mundelein march past Warren

When a team loses only nine games over the course of a 38-game season, each loss is probably going to leave quite an impression.

But for the Mundelein baseball team, which is 29-9, two losses stand out even more than the others.

"Frankly, Warren embarrassed us both times they played us (during the regular season)," Mundelein coach Todd Parola said. "They really outplayed us. We didn't play well and it was kind of fitting that we got another shot at them. Our kids definitely came in here ready to go."

Here was Saturday's Stevenson sectional championship game between Warren and the Mustangs. And this time, Mundelein didn't leave embarrassed. Instead, the Mustangs left as champions with hardware in tow, thanks to a 4-0 sectional final victory over Warren that ended in the rain.

Mundelein, which was knocked out of contention for the North Suburban Conference title due in large part to being swept by Warren, advances to the Schaumburg supersectional (7:30 p.m. Monday at Boomers Stadium) and will face the winner of Monday morning's Huntley sectional title game between Grant and Huntley.

When Mundelein starter Brendan Murphy emphatically ended the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with the last of his 13 strikeouts, he dodged the big scrum of jubilant teammates who were charging at him from the dugout, and instead made a bee-line for Parola. The two embraced in a long hug.

"Coach P (Parola) has never been more excited for a game in his life," said Murphy, a lefty who is now 10-2 on the mound after allowing just 4 hits and no walks. "I just wanted to give him a hug because I knew he would be very happy. I don't know if he was crying or not, but he was laughing, screaming. It was an amazing moment.

"Last time we played (Warren), they were up by 10 on us, stealing, bunting and he was pumped about it. Not happy. He was fired up for us to play them again and beat them. The entire team was amped for this game because of what happened the last time with Warren. Now, we're ready to move on."

Mundelein jumped on the board first when lead-off hitter Nick Stricker, who opened the game with a double, scored off a sacrifice by Ryan Fairweather.

The Mustangs got another run in the fourth off an RBI-single by catcher Reid Rubio. Rubio also singled in the seventh, as did Jake Breitenreiter. That led to 2 more insurance runs for the Mustangs.

Rubio was 2-for-3 on the day, as was Brett Parola. But Rubio says he had the most fun catching Murphy, a junior who is already committed to Arizona State.

One of Murphy's best moments came in the fifth inning when he loaded the bases with no outs but managed to get out of the jam squeaky clean.

"Murph is the best at getting out of bases-loaded jams, that's all I have to say," Rubio said. "It's a lot of confidence. He just knows he's not going to give up a run. He's done it this year, last year in the playoffs. He's been in a lot of bases loaded situations. He just knows how to grind and get out of it. He knows what he's doing. He runs the show."

Warren coach Clint Smothers says that Murphy's poise in the fifth inning was a defining moment.

"That was the turning point of the game," Smothers said. "You've got bases loaded and then the next thing you know Murphy tightens down and gets three outs in a row. That's a big thing. But that's the caliber of pitcher he is.

"The difference today (versus Warren's two regular season wins over Mundelein) was Murphy. (Murphy didn't pitch against Warren during the regular season.) He's the real deal. He had great command today and he kept our hitters off balance. You have to tip your hat off to that. He threw great."

Warren right fielder Robert Archbold was the only player to get multiple hits off Murphy. He had 2 singles, one of which came during the bases loaded situation in the fifth inning.

"What makes (Murphy) a tough pitcher is that he can go deep in the count with his pitches," Archbold said. "We worked hard in the cages getting ready for a lefty and lefty curveballs. We felt good today but our bats really didn't show up."

Warren was missing one of its best bats, No. 3 hitter Matt Burch, who was unavailable due to a commitment with his summer team. The Blue Devils finish the season with a 28-11 record, just one win shy of tying their most wins in school history, and just one win shy of making their furthest advancement in the state tournament. The Blue Devils have never before played in a supersectional game.

Meanwhile, Mundelein will be playing in its second supersectional game in the last three years.

"We'll see what we can do. It's one game at a time now and we'll start worrying about Monday soon," Parola said as his players were cheering and hugging and posing for pictures with the sectional championship plaque. "But we're going to enjoy this one for a while."

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