Baseball: Aurora Christian, Harvest Christian to meet for 1A sectional title

Last season Aurora Christian's hopes for its first sectional title since 2009 were crushed by a walk-off home run in the ninth inning of the sectional championship game against Somonauk.

On Saturday the Eagles will get another shot at a sectional title after they beat Elgin Academy 11-3 in the Class 1A Harvest Christian semifinals on Wednesday at Judson University.

Aurora Christian (29-2) will face Harvest, which beat Somonauk 10-2 in Wednesday's second game.

Sophomore Jake Kuntzendorf pulled double duty for the Eagles as he had a big day with his bat and his arm. At the plate Kuntzendorf went 3-for-3 with a pair of RBI. On the mound he scattered 6 hits and allowed just 2 runs while striking out 4 and not walking a batter in 6 ⅓ innings to pick up the win.

"We are really excited to get another chance at a sectional title," Kuntzendorf said. "We've been waiting for this ever since losing last year. That was a tough way to get knocked out."

Kuntzendorf had the luxury of pitching with a big early lead after the Eagles scored 6 runs in the first inning.

"That was a big relief,' Kuntzendorf said. "That took a lot of the pressure off me. The big thing for me was getting the first pitch over for a strike."

Kuntzendorf only threw 60 pitches and ran his record to 9-0 on the season.

"He did a real good job of getting ahead in the count and throwing strikes," Aurora Christian coach Andy Zorger said. "They were very aggressive at the plate and Jake was able to change speeds to keep them guessing."

Nick Ports had the big blow in the Eagles' first inning outburst with a 2-run double. Sam Tickel and Hunter Thompson each had RBI singles while Trey Madsen added a sac fly.

Kuntzendorf helped himself at the plate with RBI doubles in the second and fourth innings. Zack Zavasnik also had an RBI double in the second inning as the Eagles went up 8-0.

"We were sitting on fastball until their pitcher could establish something else," Kuntzendorf said. "We got some fastballs over the plate early and made them pay."

Elgin Academy finished the season at 20-6. Ethan Hill had a 2-run double for the Hilltoppers and Murtaza Syed Shah added an RBI single.

"We have a lot to be proud of," Elgin Academy coach Steve Shapiro said. "We won our third straight regional title. We will also being sending two seniors off to play college ball with Jonathan Cruz heading to NIU and Jordan Hare going to Rhodes College in Memphis. Elgin Academy is already a fantastic school for academics and hopefully we can continue to attract even more kids with the success of our baseball program."

Harvest Christian 10, Somonauk 2: In the second game, Dayne Frederick had 3 hits including a double, home run and 2 RBI to lead the Lions (25-7) into Saturday's title game. Grant Young added 2 RBI for Harvest while Joey Pepper had 2 hits with a double and Drew Lewis 3 hits with a double and 2 RBI. Zach Pawelek picked up the win on the mound going 5 innings and allowing 2 hits with 4 strikeouts and 3 walks.