Baseball: Aurora Christian upends Harvest Christian
The Aurora Christian baseball team may have been down 6-1 in the early innings on Wednesday, but it wasn't about to be counted out.
Instead the Eagles got up off the deck, brushed themselves off, and rallied for an 8-7 win over host Harvest Christian in the Class 1A sectional semifinals at Judson University in Elgin.
The Eagles' victory avenged two regular-season losses to their conference rival Lions.
M.J. Stavola went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI to spearhead the Eagles' comeback.
It was Stavola's 2 run triple over the center fielder's head in the sixth inning that scored Jacob Brothers and Tanner Dissell with the tying and eventual winning run. Ironically, Stavola's game-winner came after he failed to lay down a sacrifice bunt.
"I wanted to come through for the team," Stavola said. "I just waited back on the ball and tried to make good contact."
The Eagles (24-8), who will play Somonauk on Saturday for the sectional title, trailed 6-1 after 3 innings, but rallied for 5 runs in the top of the fourth to tie the score at 6-6. Clark Turek started the scoring with an RBI single that brought home Dissell, who had reached on a one-out double. Brothers added a 2-run double. Eric Hernandez followed with a single. Then Stavola hit a game-tying double.
"We never had any doubt we could come back," Stavola said. "We just had to put it all together and stay focused. Once we got a couple hits the wheels started falling off the train."
Harvest Christian (29-6) regained the lead 7-6 with an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth inning. However, after that the Aurora Christian bullpen shut the door. Brothers pitched 2⅔ shutout innings to earn the win and Ethan Stoneberg came on to pitch a scoreless seventh inning for the save.
"Our pitching was big down the stretch," Aurora Christian coach Andy Zorger said. "Brothers came in and did what we needed him to and that was hold them and give us a chance to get back in the game. Stoneberg we haven't used much, but have been saving him for moments like this. We have hit the ball well all year and can score multiple runs in innings so we knew we had it in us to come back."
Harvest Christian had taken the early lead with 3 runs in the first inning and 3 more in the third. The Lions' first run scored on an error. Joey Pepper followed with an RBI double and Jack Nohava had an RBI single. The Lions' 3 runs in the third inning came on a leadoff solo homer by Dayne Frederick and a 2-run double by Brock Wilken.
"We knew it was going to a battle," Harvest Christian coach Jeff Halter said. "You've got to hand it to them - they hit our best guys and were one run better than us today. It's disappointing but we have a lot to look forward to. In 3 years we have gone from 6 wins to 19 to 29 this year and we don't lose any guys. So we'll use this as part of the growing experience. The future is bright."
Somonauk 12, Elgin Academy 2: In the second semifinal, the Hilltoppers (22-6) saw their season come to an end in 5 innings. Ian Wilson homered and Kevin Kuykendall had a double for Elgin Academy.