Marmion's best shots not quite enough
When you've got a great pitcher on the ropes, you better deliver that knockout punch.
That's just the position Marmion put undefeated Rock Falls left-hander Taylor Eikenberry in during the second inning of the Class 3A Rochelle sectional title game Saturday afternoon.
With a 3-run lead, the bases loaded and their star hitter at the plate who had Rock Falls scared silly, the Cadets instead had a baserunner picked off to end the inning.
Eikenberry settled into a grove the rest of the way, finishing with 14 strikeouts in the Rockets' 6-4 victory.
Rock Falls (31-2) will play LaSalle-Peru (18-14) Monday in the Class 3A supersectional at Augustana College while Marmion's winningest season in school history ends at 19-9.
"That was a big opportunity we let slip through our fingers," Marmion coach Dave Rakow said.
Eikenberry labored through the first two innings. He wanted no part of Marmion junior Matt Milroy in the first inning after Milroy's 3-home run game two days earlier in the sectional semifinals.
Milroy walked on four pitches, then the Cadets made the Rockets pay when Tim Milroy followed with a single and C.J. Foster lofted a 3-run home run down the right field line.
"The best possible way we could have started the game," Foster said of his first home run of the year. "He was a good pitcher but I got good wood on it."
Foster's blast sent a buzz through the Marmion crowd, and the Cadets continued to put the pressure on Eikenberry in the second inning. A hit batter and consecutive walks loaded the bases with two outs for Matt Milroy.
Eikenberry had thrown 7 straight balls at that point, but his catcher Shane Blair bailed him out by throwing to first to pick off the runner.
"That might have been the biggest play of the whole game," Rock Falls coach Donnie Chappell said. "We didn't want to pitch to him (Milroy)."
Marmion only managed 1 hit the next 4 innings. Eikenberry threw 25 balls in the first two innings, then found his command and threw only 23 balls the next five innings in his 124-pitch complete game effort.
"Once he (Eikenberry) hit that curveball for strikes he was probably the best pitcher we've seen this year," Rakow said.
Eikenberry, a junior who already is being recruited by Illinois State among others, isn't even the Rockets' ace. That is Jarred Hippen, who pitched Rock Falls to a 3-1 win over Sycamore in the sectional semifinals Wednesday.
The Cadets didn't have to hit against him, but they still had to pitch to Hippen, and did the Iowa-bound lefty ever make them pay.
He doubled in his first at-bat and scored the Rockets' first run. A nifty 5-4-3 from David Brouch to Zack Young to Tim Milroy ended the second inning with Marmion still leading 3-1.
That changed in the third. A rejuvenated Eikenberry struck out Marmion's 3-4-5 hitters in order in the top half. In the bottom half, Marmion starter Matt Milroy walked the leadoff hitter, and the Rockets' No. 9 batter Tyler Johnson followed with his first home run of the year, aided by a strong breeze blowing out to right, to tie the game at 3.
After another walk, Hippen gave Rock Falls a 5-3 lead it didn't relinquish with a no-doubt 2-run home run. It was his seventh of the season.
"You get in the playoffs and give away free bases it usually comes back to haunt you," Rakow said.
Trailing 6-3, Marmion tried to rally in its last at-bat. Doubles by Chris Tydd and David DeSimone made it 6-4 and brought the tying run to the plate, but Eikenberry induced a pop-up to short to end the game.
While the future for the Cadets is exceedingly bright -- juniors like Matt Milroy, Foster, DeSimone, Ryan Hoffman and Brian Burns return to go with a strong sophomore class -- the 2008 team has a long list of accomplishments to savor.
The Cadets set a school record for wins, won their first regional championship since 1969 and came within a game of the school's first sectional title.
The Marmion community took notice, judging by the large and vocal crowd who drove west to Rochelle Saturday to support the team.
"The kids have nothing to hang their heads about," Rakow said. "It means a lot to the school. Hopefully this is something we can surpass and expand on next year."