Baseball: Grant holds off Cary-Grove's late rally
With Cary-Grove mounting a valiant comeback, Grant baseball coach Dave Behm knew exactly the move he needed to make.
With starter Nick Malmberg getting hit hard, Behm summoned hard throwing left-hander Chase Maifield to the mound.
It ended up being a good move by the Bulldogs' coach.
Maifield blanked the No. 5 seed Trojans over the final 3⅓ innings to earn the win as the third-seeded Bulldogs held on for an 8-7 win in Class 4A Cary-Grove regional semifinal action Thursday afternoon.
Grant (24-8) will take on McHenry (25-10) for the regional title Saturday at 11 a.m.
"Chase has had the role of long relief most of the season and has done a great job in that role," said Behm, ''He does a great job of settling things down when he comes in. He was outstanding shutting down a good Cary-Grove offense. I like the way we started but we knew Cary-Grove would make a comeback."
Maifield, who was 3-for-3 at the plate with 3 RBI, savors his role in relief.
"I have two pitches, a fastball and a curveball, and I have to make sure both those pitches are working," said Maifield. "I have to make sure when I come in to keep the game close and give our offense a chance to score."
Grant seized control of the game with 7 runs in the first aided by 3 Trojan errors and courtesy of a 2-RBI single by Maifield, an RBI double from Jacob Splitt and a run-scoring single by Jimmy Friel.
The Bulldogs scored what turned out to be the winning run in the second on an RBI single by Danny Laughery.
The Trojans began their comeback with 3 runs in the third powered by a 3-run homer by Matt Breig. Cary-Grove got within a run of the Bulldogs at 8-7 with 4 in the fourth keyed by an RBI triple by Kyle Ives, run-scoring doubles from Quinn Priester and Breig and a sacrifice fly by Ryan Ignoffo.
Hampered by baserunning miscues, the Trojans couldn't get any closer in the last three innings.
A positive for the Trojans was the relief pitching of Priester, who entered the game for starting and losing pitcher Alex Riehman with 1 out in the first inning.
The hard-throwing junior righty allowed 1 run on 4 hits in 4⅓ innings with 3 strikeouts and a walk.
"Quinn was outstanding and kept us in the game," said Cary-Grove coach Don Sutherland. "We made too many mistakes. We did a nice job of coming back. I am very proud of the kids."
With 16 hits, Breig (4 RBI) and Priester led the Trojans with 3 hits each.