Firth whiffs 14 in dominating shutout victory

Palatine matched Stevenson in hits with 7 in Wednesday's Class 4A Fremd regional baseball semifinal in Palatine.

But twice as often, the Pirates were overmatched by Clemson-bound right-hander Scott Firth as Stevenson, the second seed in the Barrington sectional, came out with a 6-0 victory.

"A dominating performance," said Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca after Firth had 14 strikeouts and no walks and threw 74 of his 98 pitches for strikes.

"Overall this year we haven't given him the greatest run support," said Stevenson shortstop Kyle Ruchim, who drove in the first 3 runs with singles in the first two innings. "If we give him that - unbelievable. He was on.

"What makes him so special is his off-speed stuff. His change is great and his curveball, some kids were missing it by a foot today."

Firth hit 92 mph on the radar gun in the first inning and his fastball was consistently around 89-91 mph in his third shutout as Stevenson (27-6) advanced to Saturday's 1 p.m. regional final against No. 7-seeded Fremd or No. 10 seed Glenbrook North.

Firth (6-1) went to a three-ball count on only two hitters and finished with what he thought was a career-high for strikeouts.

"The ball was definitely coming out of my hand really well," Firth said. "My curve was definitely really sharp. Part of that was having good energy and getting a good leg push."

No. 15-seeded Palatine (17-18) loaded the bases in the second on singles by Jim Smearman, Byron Skinner and Joe Campe (2-for-3), but Firth got Cody Bobbit on a groundout.

"That was definitely a big spot because it was still pretty early and they were kind of hanging around," Firth said. "That was a spot where I felt I needed to buckle down and get out with no runs or minimize what they got."

Andy Prombo (2-for-3), the Pirates' only senior in the starting lineup, and Campe singled to start the fifth inning, but Firth left runners at second and third with 2 strikeouts.

"Overall I was happy with the way we attacked him and I don't think we backed down in any way," said Palatine coach Paul Belo.

"We couldn't recognize his off-speed (pitches) and that became our nemesis."

Ruchim had a 2-run single with two outs in the second. With two outs in the fourth, Matt Geissler had a 2-run single and Patrick Wilson had an RBI double.

"Our pitching and defense is pretty much always going to be there," Firth said.

"If we manufacture runs and swing the bats, we definitely could be a team to watch out for as we keep moving on."