Baseball: Hot-hitting St. Viator stops Grayslake Central

St. Viator's Bryce Hellgeth handcuffed Grayslake Central, and the Lions' bats remained scorching as St. Viator rolled to an 8-2 victory Saturday in the Class 3A Lake View baseball sectional final at Kerry Wood Field in Chicago.

St. Viator (22-15) won its second consecutive sectional title, and the Lions will meet East Suburban Catholic rival Benet in Monday's supersectional at North Central College at 4 p.m. Benet defeated Nazareth 11-1 in the sectional title game hosted by the Redwings.

Hellgeth was solid for Viator. The junior surrendered a run in the first to Grayslake Central and then did not allow a hit until the seventh when he gave way to Bobby Perna, who got the final out.

"It was fun out there," said Hellgeth, who struck out five and walked four, with one of those erased when catcher Mike Wittich threw him out on an attempted steal. "I did the same thing when I pitched in the regionals. I got off to a slow start and then picked things up. It was also great to get some run support."

Grayslake Central (21-17) took advantage of Hellgeth's slow start to score in the top of the first.

Nic Presutti walked and went to second on Justin Shepley's bloop single to left. The pair moved up on a fielder's choice, and Presutti scored on Benton Troehler's sacrifice fly to left.

Hellgeth then shut down the Rams until late in the seventh inning. Twice he set down the Rams in order, and Hellgeth allowed just one base runner in the other three innings, with none of those advancing past first base.

"He was unlucky in the first inning, but he settled in," St. Viator coach Mike Manno said. "I thought Grayslake had a nice game plan. They were scrappy at the plate. But I thought he did a good job overcoming that."

With Hellgeth corralling the Rams, the St. Viator offense surged, as it had in the previous three playoff games. St. Viator, which has scored 32 runs and 37 hits in those games, banged out 11 hits on Saturday, with eight different batters getting a hit.

"All the way through the lineup, we are hitting," said St. Viator's Jack Mahoney, who 2 hits and 2 RBI. "That has been a big advantage for us."

The Lions didn't waste time getting back into the game on Saturday.

With two outs, Hunter Johnson, who had 2 hits, singled. After a walk, Mahoney singled home Johnson to tie the game.

"The whole season has been a grind," Johnson said. "And it has been a lot of fun the whole way."

St. Viator struck for single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings to open up a 4-1 lead as the Lions began to chip away at the Grayslake Central pitching.

"We are hitting at the right time," Manno said. "If you are going to hit, you might as well hit in the postseason."

The Lions took the lead for good in the third when they parlayed a pair of hits by the Kmet brothers, Casey and Cole. With the brothers occupying first and second base, Johnson laid down a sacrifice bunt and Casey Kmet was able to score from second when the Rams' throw ended up down the right-field line.

"I had a nice bunt," Johnson said. "I made the plays when I needed to."

Brett DeSelm singled and pinch runner Anthony Stephens scored when Casey Kmet tripled just underneath the scoreboard in right field.

"After I saw the right fielder turn his back, I just kept going," said Casey Kmet, who had 2 walks and 2 runs scored. "We knew they were going to throw away from Cole, so I knew I had to produce early. "

Wittich singled home Jake Sinnena, who was pinch-running for John Finnegan (single) to drive in the next run for Viator.

The Lions broke the game open in the sixth inning with a 4-spot.

After 2 walks, Johnson singled home a run. Hellgeth then singled home another, and Mahoney doubled in a pair as the Lions led 8-1.

Grayslake Central scored a run in the seventh inning when Ben Kordek doubled and came home on Tony Crews' single and the error that followed.

"I told our kids that any time you are playing on a Saturday in June, there are a lot of other teams sitting at home," said Grayslake Central coach Troy Whalen, whose teams have advanced to a sectional final in six of the last nine years. "We overachieved to get here. We just got beat by a better team today."

Whalen said his team could never get things going against Hellgeth.

"We were trying to figure some things out at the plate," Whalen said. "You have to tip your hat to their pitcher. He was tough."

At one point, it seemed unlikely this St. Viator team would still be playing at this point of the seasonm especially after graduating many of the starters from last year's squad that finished fourth at state.

"Nobody that they would get this far - except for our guys," Manno said. "They wanted to prove that it was inside of us. They worked hard all year. They deserve this."

The Lions will now have to get past a Benet team that beat the Lions twice back on April 15.

"We are going to celebrate today and then go back to work tomorrow," Manno said. "It is going to be a good, old-fashioned ESCC matchup on Monday."