Baseball: Glenbard East edges Glenbard West
Jeremy Johnson jumped on the first pitch he saw and Taylor Westerhoff fired the last one past the final batter he faced.
A clutch hit by Johnson combined with a strong outing from Westerhoff lifted Glenbard East to a 3-1 victory over Glenbard West during Thursday afternoon's Class 4A Elk Grove Village regional semifinal.
The Rams advance to Saturday morning's regional final against York while the Hilltoppers finish 18-11.
"Their guy threw well and we've hit well a lot of this season, but not so much today," Hilltoppers coach Andy Schultz said. "Their guy worked ahead, kept the ball down in the zone and threw strikes, and they had a clutch hit and we didn't and that's the game sometimes."
Glenbard East (23-12) looked to break a scoreless game in the bottom of the fourth inning after Westerhoff reached on an error, Johnson drew a walk and Mitchel Glennon bunted them into scoring position. But after intentionally walking Jack Crackle, right-hander Joey Ciero went to work, fanning the next to batters to end the threat.
The Rams didn't waste their next scoring chance in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jack Oberli got it started by getting in the way of a pitch. Ben Campos followed with a single and once again a sacrifice bunt moved up the runners and the Hilltoppers elected to intentionally walk Westerhoff to load the bases. Johnson then smacked the first pitch he saw through the right side of the infield to drive in a pair of runs.
"I wasn't worried when I went up to bat," Johnson said, "I kind of know my team has my back and I have to have my team's back. It was a good feeling to have that happen and then we put it away which was one of the greatest feelings."
Glennon's run-scoring single completed the rally to give the Rams a 3-0 lead, which was more than enough for Westerhoff although not without drama.
He looked to set the Hilltoppers down in order in the sixth, but Tommy Bleker reached on a dropped third strike with two outs and then Ryan Petersen walked before Grant Lalla's RBI single made it 3-1. An intentional walk to Sam Fenske loaded the bases, but Westerhoff ended the threat with a strikeout.
Then, in the top of the seventh with his pitch count climbing into the low 110s, Westerhoff retired the first two men he faced. But he hit Joe Peraino and yielded a bloop single to bring Bleker, the go-ahead run, to the plate, but struck him out.
Westerhoff only allowed 4 hits and walked just 2 in the complete-game effort. He struck out 7 and set down 10 straight hitters at one point.
"He's done a great job for us all year," Rams coach Joel Pelland said. "He's a super smart kid too and he's pretty self-aware about who he is and doesn't try to blow people away. He spots up his pitches."
The senior right-hander acknowledged that he was nervous before the start, but not during it as well as sweaty, but not tired after it.
"I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," he said. "But as soon as I stepped off the bus I was ready to go."