Bowden gets the call, and he answers

Mike Bowden admits he's lax on returning phone messages. He lets them gestate a bit.

Not when it's his manager on the Pawtucket Red Sox. Well after the "PawSox's" win at Lehigh Valley last Saturday night Ron Johnson left a message. Bowden hopped from under the bedsheets to respond.

Johnson's news was good - as many people saw on ESPN's "Sunday Night Baseball."

Johnson told the 6-foot-3, 225-pound Waubonsie Valley graduate there was a 95 percent chance the Boston Red Sox wouldn't need him to pitch against the New York Yankees. They wanted him in the bullpen just in case.

After taking a red-eye from Washington to Boston then cabbing it straight to Fenway Park, the 22-year-old right-hander went to Red Sox manager Terry Francona's office to thank him for the opportunity. Francona indicated Bowden would, in fact, probably pitch.

Last season he'd started and won his major-league debut on Aug. 30, against the White Sox. Beating his hometown club is one thing. Yankees-Red Sox is something else.

"Just to be in the outfield shagging balls, it was an awesome experience," he said Wednesday, back with Pawtucket in Syracuse, N.Y.

It got better.

After six innings Bowden got the call from the bullpen to hold the Red Sox's 4-1 lead in front of 38,154 screaming fans.

"I was getting behind batters 2-0," he said of the jitter-inducing scene. "I just had to focus my energy and later in the count I had to throw strikes. But it took me, like, two pitches."

Bowden retired each of the six batters he faced - Angel Berroa, Brett Gardner, Derek Jeter, Mark Teixeira, Nick Swisher and Robinson Cano - striking out Jeter and Cano on fastballs low and away.

"With a cut" fastball, Bowden added, to get Jeter.

"The only other thing that's going to be a more exciting or a more difficult situation to be put in would be playoff baseball," Bowden said.

His job done, he was congratulated "by everybody," then was sent back to Triple-A Pawtucket.

"That was probably the longest 36, 48 hours of my life," he said.

"Every day I wake up and realize I play baseball for a living, every single day. It's just living a dream."

Bowden, the first-round draft pick, is way closer to the Red Sox than he is to a big head.

"What I'm worried about now is just continuing to work on stuff at Triple-A and getting batters out."

The Man

Dan Block was having a horrible day throwing the shot put. To reach the finals last Friday at Lake Zurich he ditched the rotational delivery for his last preliminary throw and simply stood to push a 52-foot effort good enough to net him three more tries.

What's more, on the first throw of the finals teammate Jermaine Kline threw the shot 60 feet, 2 inches to break Block's sophomore record of 58-7.

"In my head I was just thinking I couldn't let him beat me," said Block, although Block and his parents, Randy and Cathy, all congratulated the 300-pound Kline.

Block's fifth throw will be tough to beat. It went 66 feet, 3 inches, the farthest throw in state history. Block, who also owns the longest discus mark in Illinois history at 201 feet, 8 inches, bettered the distance of 66-13/4 set in 1988 by Larkin's Kevin Coleman.

"That still hasn't really sunk in, you know?" Block said from home Tuesday. "That's great. I've still got a lot more work to do, though. But right now, it's great."

"It's been an honor to work with all the Blocks," said Lancers throws coach Bob Nihells, who has sophomore Greg Block on the squad. Nihells coached Scott Block to the 2002 state title and Tom Block to a 2001 state berth.

"It's a great genetic family, but not only that, they're great kids. It's always nice to have good kids throw far, and what a nice family," Nihells said. "Mr. and Mrs. Block were just as congratulatory for Jermaine as anything. That kind of tells you something."

Dan Block's history-making throw told him something, too.

"I felt like I was in a slump," he said. "It definitely took me out of it."

She's back

Another track icon made a comeback last weekend. At the Glenbard East Ram Invitational on Saturday, Waubonsie Valley senior Shakeia Pinnick made her 2009 outdoor debut in the 3,200-meter relay and then beat Benet's McKinzie Schulz in the 400, two of the state's top runners going head to head.

"It was pretty cool," said Pinnick, who had left the team for a little over a week after a disagreement between her parents and Warriors coach Dr. Jim Braun.

'An exciting day'

Wheaton North and Wheaton College graduate Pete Ittersagen signed a free-agent contract with the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday.

"I'm really eager to get better as a player and to contribute," said Ittersagen, who headed to Jacksonville Thursday before a minicamp.

A four-year starter at Wheaton College, the 5-foot-11, 191-pound cornerback was a three-time All-America for the Thunder, excelling on punt and kick returns. Along with 60 passes defended - fifth all-time in Division III history - Ittersagen set program records for punt returns for touchdown (5) and overall touchdown returns (9).

Ittersagen signed with an agent in December and worked on lowering his 40-yard dash in pro days at Northern Illinois and Northwestern. Clocked in the "low 4.4s to the high 4.4s," he said, he had a private workout with the Steelers and was in contact talks with the Dolphins, Chargers and Cowboys.

"We had a lot of NFL teams come through in the fall to watch me practice," said Ittersagen, whose former teammate Andy Studebaker became the first Wheaton College graduate to play in a modern NFL game, in 2008 with the Kansas City Chiefs.

Free agents, even those with character Jacksonville coach Jack Del Rio appreciates, face an uphill climb. Ittersagen knows the reality but doesn't lack confidence.

"It's a big jump from any college team to the pros, but I'm definitely confident I'm going to Jacksonville to earn a spot and help them win on Sundays," Ittersagen said.