Baseball: Coble's gutty effort helps Barrington past Buffalo Grove
There was a moment Friday when Brad Coble felt sick.
The Barrington junior had just come on in relief and faced a bases-loaded situation with one out and his team leading by a run in the bottom of the sixth.
Coble calmly let the feeling pass, then struck out the next hitter he faced and induced the final batter of the inning to ground out to second to end the threat. Barrington then added 3 insurance runs in the seventh to knock off host Buffalo Grove 7-3 Friday.
"It was nerve-racking,"Coble said. "I knew the game was on the line. I knew I had to shut them down. That was the most pressured situation I have ever been in in my life."
The victory enabled Barrington (22-6, 12-0) to clinch the MSL West title for the fifth consecutive season.
"That is great," said Barrington coach Pat Wire, who has been at the helm for all of those West titles. "That is one of the targets we had. We know we want to do a lot more. It was exciting to beat a good team."
Buffalo Grove (20-2-1, 10-2) suffered just its second setback of the season. The Bison trail Prospect by 1 game for the MSL East title and the two teams meet next Monday and Wednesday.
Buffalo Grove appeared to be in control early.
The Bison loaded the bases in the top of the first when Leo Rule and John Carpinelli singled and Mac Camardo walked. Rule scored on a groundout by Chase Marsh.
After walking another batter, Barrington pitcher Will Yorton found his stuff to end the threat.
Buoyed by his pitching, Yorton began the second with a double. That got the Broncos' bats in gear with 4 other hits to follow, which translated into 4 runs for Barrington.
Tyler Acosta had an RBI single, one of his 3 hits on the day. He along with Clark Ellliot scored on Justin Walker's infield single and subsequent error. Walker, who had 2 hits and scored two runs, then scored on Tyler Trojan's second hit of the day.
"I got into a lot of deep counts today and tried to work the pitcher," Acosta said. "I was glad the way we came out. We really wanted to win this game against a team that is very good."
With a 4-1 lead, Yortin settled down to retire the next 13 Buffalo Grove batters. During that span, He got solid defensive catches by Trojan and Blake Gosswein and a terrific play by Jeff Korus, who threw out a Bison batter from right field on a throw to first, taking away a sure single.
Buffalo Grove rallied in the bottom of the sixth to get back in the game.
Carpinelli, who had 3 of the 5 hits by the Bison, left off with a double. After a wild pitch, he scored on a long fly to Riley Rundquist to make it 4-2.
Buffalo Grove loaded the bases and Camardo, who had singled, scored on a wild pitch. After the bases were loaded again, Coble closed the door.
"We had opportunities," Buffalo Grove coach Tim Miller said. "We had the bases loaded twice and couldn't get a timely hit. I felt that our approach at the plate wasn't very good today."
Barrington added three insurance runs as the Broncos loaded the bases on three consecutive hit batters. Gosswein drove in 2 runs with a single and Korus scored on the back end of a double steal with a sweet slide to avoid the tag.
"I saw some good pitches and put a good swing on it," said Gosswein, who had 2 hits. "We are excited by the way we swing the bats. We have a bunch of guys who can contribute."