Baseball: Kocen's OK, and Warren KO's Buffalo Grove

So much for easing back in.

For the last month, Warren pitcher Riley Kocen has been on the shelf, out with a broken middle finger on his right throwing hand.

He was finally cleared to play in games. On Wednesday.

And on Wednesday, he was asked to do some pitching in relief. In the Glenbrook South sectional semifinal game. Against No. 1 seed Buffalo Grove.

Ummm, welcome back, Riley.

"I was a little bit surprised (to be asked to pitch)," Kocen said. "But I just think the coaches have confidence in me. I was a little nervous at first. But then I started throwing and my finger felt fine and at that point I knew I was good."

Kocen couldn't afford to be anything less. Not only was Warren's playoff fate in his newly repaired hands as he pitched the final three innings, he also needed to get out of a hairy jam in the bottom of the seventh.

No wonder Kocen's teammates doused him with water from the Gatorade cooler after he came through to lead Warren to a 6-5 victory.

"This was Riley's best performance of the year, and a heck of a time to do it, too," Warren leftfielder Luke Schmitt said. "I think the whole team was surprised that he was pitching in the first place. But he did a phenomenal job coming back from the injury and what he was able to do was just amazing."

Kocen was under some pressure at the end. Buffalo Grove, down 6-5, had loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh with one out.

But Kocen stayed calm and retired two straight batters to seal the victory for Warren, which advances to Saturday's sectional championship game. The fourth-seeded Blue Devils, who tied their school record for wins on a season (29-9), will face the winner of today's other semifinal between No. 2 Libertyville and No. 3 Mundelein, both North Suburban Conference foes.

"I was trying to stay composed and just throw strikes. It was very emotional. I'm talking to myself in my head. I'm just telling myself to throw strikes and do what I normally do," Kocen said. "I haven't been in many jams like this. It was weird for me, but it all worked out."

Kocen finished with 4 strikeouts and allowed just 1 walk over three innings of work.

"Yeah, I talked to Riley before the game and he said, 'Coach, I feel great,'" said Warren coach Clint Smothers, whose team got off to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. "We had three or four guys that we were looking to go with and we made a coaching decision to go with him and it paid off because he did a great job battling these guys."

Schmitt drove in what would become the winning run with a double in the sixth inning. That came after Buffalo Grove had battled to tie the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth inning. Center fielder Leo Rule drove in that run for the Bison with a single.

Rule was hoping for similar results with the bases loaded in the seventh, but he wound up flying out for the last out of the game.

"This is tough. This is my last baseball game. It's tough to come to terms with, but I wouldn't want to do it with any other group of guys," Rule said. "This was a great group of guys. After the emotions settle down, we'll look back at it as a great season. Every day we worked hard."

Buffalo Grove finishes with a 29-5-1 record, the second-most wins in program history.

"We knew this was going to be a good group and we were waiting for it to take off," Buffalo Grove coach Tim Miller said. "This group since August has woke up at 6 in the morning to lift weights and do speed and agility. We just bonded and then we took a Spring Trip to Florida and we started getting better and better and better. The confidence level went up and it was a team effort, every game. Even our bench today, everyone was locked into the game today. We experienced a lot together."