Prairie Ridge 12, Crystal Lake South 2

ROCKFORD -- Prairie Ridge senior T.J. Swank has unquestioned faith in his team's ability to win.

After all, coming into Thursday's Class 4A sectional semifinal here against Crystal Lake South as one of the hottest teams in the state, what would Swank possibly have to doubt about his squad?

"I trust in my guys," Swank said." I trust in my hitters, my defense, and I just try to give my team the best effort I can out there."

Swank's faith, however strong, would be put into question early in Thursday's contest at Rockford Guilford.

After allowing a first inning home run to Gators' second basemen James Vazquez, and a passed ball that accounted for another run, Prairie Ridge was down by two early on, and would need to battle back to uphold its No. 1 seed in the sectional.

Erasing the memory of his first-inning troubles, Swank (5 innings, 2 ER, 2 hits) proceeded to cruise through the next four innings without allowing a single hit, while his teammates shredded South's pitching staff for 12 unanswered runs en route to a 12-2 victory in five innings.

Prairie Ridge (28-8) will meet Rockton Hononegah at 2 p.m. Saturday for the sectional title. CL South finished the season 14-15.

"I had been in a situation like this before against Huntley in the first inning or two," Swank said. "In that game and also this one, I just had to refocus and not let it bother me."

Trailing 2-0 headed into the home half of the second, Prairie Ridge's offense exploded for 6 runs against South starter Sean Wilson. After a deep fly out from Swank, junior Nolan Jacoby (3-for-4, 2 RBI) started the Wolves' rally with a hard hit single. Two batters later third baseman Mike Butler drove in two runners with an RBI single to right that tied up the game.

"I led off the inning with a base hit and from there we just went off," Jacoby said.

Prairie Ridge would add 4 more runs in the second, off a Bobby Martin RBI single, a pair of passed balls for runs, and a double steal that saw South forced into a rundown as Prairie Ridge stole home.

While it would be hard to deny Prairie Ridge's talents, its success in the batter's box Thursday could largely be attributed to coach Dave Haskins' attention to detail.

In preparing his squad for Crystal Lake southpaw Wilson (2½ innings, 3 ER, 5 hits) Haskins made sure his team was comfortable facing a left-hander and would have no hesitations at the plate.

"We worked on throwing a lefty to them because we hadn't seen (a left handed pitcher) in awhile," Haskins said. "I think it really helped us out today."

Help them out it certainly did, as the Wolves, already up 6-2 in the fourth, added 4 more runs off back-to-back doubles from juniors Jacoby and Will Mack to put PR up 10-2 and all but cement the victory.

"We have guys throughout our lineup from beginning to end that are there ready to pick you up," Jacoby explained. "That's so important to have."

For Crystal Lake South, the disappointing end to its season cannot take away a superb spring for the Gators, which was capped off with a regional title.

"These guys have a lot to be proud of, seeing as we were the second team in school history to win a regional title," South coach Brian Bogda said. "It's too bad we had to go out this way for the seniors, but I'm looking forward to getting ready for next year."

Wheaton North 5, St. Charles North 2: Jack DeAno, a starting pitcher on Wheaton North's baseball team, is a competitor.

The junior right-hander is 7-1 this year for a reason. That's why Falcons coach Dan Schoessling decided to use him on the mound against St. Charles North in the Class 4A Larkin sectional semifinal.

It paid off, as DeAno started off on fire and finished with 5 strikeouts, 2 walks and 5 hits in Wheaton North's 5-2 win over the North Stars Thursday in Elgin.

"When you have a big game, you want someone on the mound who wants to compete, and he's one of the best competitors we've ever had," Schoessling said. "He refused to lose this game."

"We never give up," added DeAno, who is also the Falcons' leadoff man. "We are always positive. No one gets down."

With the win, the Falcons (22-13) will play Schaumburg for the sectional title Saturday. The North Stars ended their season 23-12.

DeAno had a pitcher's duel going with St. Charles North's lefty, Danny Jimenez. Both did not allow a run in the first three innings.

Wheaton North changed that when Trey Martin hit a double with two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. He moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a North Star error.

St. Charles North, however, fired back with Matt Stevens' solo home run that led off the fifth inning. In that inning, the North Stars posted 3 of their hits and left a pair of baserunners stranded.

Then came the fifth inning, when Jimenez reached his pitch count and another southpaw, Zach Hirsch, came in the game.

Hirsch ended up striking out the first two batters of the inning, Ryan Javech and Travis Otto, but both ended up on base on back-to-back dropped third strikes. Javech ended up scoring on an RBI double from Wade Cervenka and Otto's pinch runner, Brett Kirchhofer, came home on an RBI single from Aric Dama. Cervenka pushed the score at 4-1 when he crossed home as the North Stars turned a double play.

"We got a little lucky there, but that's baseball," DeAno said. "They made mistakes and we capitalized on it."

Wheaton North added another run in the sixth when DeAno reached first on another dropped third strike, got to third on a North Stars throwing error and scored on Matt Palackdharry's RBI single.

Mike Butka led the seventh inning off with another solo home run for the North Stars, but DeAno retired the next three batters to end the game.

"I thought we'd come out and play better," St. Charles North coach Todd Genke said. "I'm really proud of them. Hopefully, our young kids learned from this."

Jimenez, who might get drafted in this year's MLB draft, picked up the no-decision while Hirsch took the tough loss and dropped to 5-4. They combined for 10 strikeouts, 3 walks and 7 hits.

Every player in Wheaton North's lineup reached base at least once. The Falcons left 5 stranded in the first three innings before breaking through in the fourth.

The North Stars finished with 3 errors -- all in the final three innings.

"It was a weird game," Schoessling said. "In some of the innings, I felt we should have scored, but didn't. We got a few breaks and pushed across some runs…we had situations where we took advantage and did a good job with that."

The Falcons are ready for Schaumburg, the No. 1 seed.

"They are the No. 1 seed for a reason (but) we feel confident with the way we are playing," Schoessling said. "We feel good going in."