Moran honestly now main man for BG

Tommy Moran deserves credit for his honesty.

There is a discrepancy with Moran's pitching record. Buffalo Grove's stats have him with 4 losses.

Moran continues to insist he has 5 losses.

A lot of guys might try to sneak a fast one by some reporters and say, 'Oh, that's right, it's only four." Moran is sticking with five.

What isn't in doubt is Moran's record and role in BG's latest postseason run. Moran won his third playoff game in as many starts with Thursday's drama-filled 3-2 victory over Mundelein in the Class 4A Libertyville sectional semifinal.

That improves Moran's record, by his own accounting, to 4-5. But how many other pitchers in the state are doing as well as Moran right now?

In 24 postseason innings, Moran has allowed 5 runs on 20 hits with 14 strikeouts -- and most important -- 4 walks.

"I wish he could," BG coach John Wendell said with a laugh of Moran pitching every game. "That would be nice.

"He's done an unbelievable job. I said better days were due to come (for him) and they have been.

"He had some tough luck early and stuck to the grind. And we've played great defense lately."

A defense which is now making all the plays and has fueled Moran's confidence on the mound.

"I can get grounders and not worry," Moran said mixing his fastball, changeup and curve to throw 76 of his 116 pitches for strikes Thursday. "During the season I figured I've got to strike guys out to get outs. Now I know everybody is behind me."

The Bison are getting two outs at a time as second baseman Jon Moore was the middleman on two more double plays with shortstop Zach Borenstein and third baseman Mike Ricciardi.

Ricciardi and Borenstein had nice plays on third-inning grounders with Hurley making a big scoop on the latter. Moore also made a tough catch of a soft liner in the fourth.

"Everything's been going our way," Hurley said.

Especially the last play. If Dillon Smith gets some elevation in his last at-bat it might end up on Route 176 and have Mundelein celebrating a dramatic game-winning homer.

But Smith's liner came to a screeching halt in Ricciardi's glove and the Bison were celebrating their latest upset.

"Oh my God," Ricciardi said. "That was a shot.

"Right away I looked (in my glove) and thought, 'Now I'm sure it's in there.'"

And with upsets of No. 3 seed Lake Zurich and No. 2 Mundelein, BG now gets a shot at top-seed Carmel in Saturday's championship.

Instead of making retirement plans, Wendell is making pitching plans that include Seth Parker, Andrew Diederich, Nick Ciaccio and Hurley.

"We'll see what happens," Hurley said. "Anything can happen."

And maybe Moran will get an honest to goodness shot to reach the .500 mark.