Broncos, Vikings advance
Barrington left-hander Robby McDonnell had to wait awhile to protect a lead in Thursday's Class 4A Highland Park baseball regional semifinal against St. Viator.
The ninth-seeded Broncos (18-14) finally gave McDonnell an edge in the top of the seventh inning. Tom Unak hit a tiebreaking leadoff homer and Gus Handler hit a two-out grand slam and McDonnell (8-2) finished off a 4-hitter in a 6-1 victory over No. 8 Viator (18-16).
McDonnell had 12 strikeouts and 1 walk and allowed his only run on Mike Fleming's RBI single in the second. Barrington tied the game in the fifth.
"He was very good," said Barrington coach Jim Hawrysko. "He was just really down in the zone with his fastball and he had a little extra on his fastball.
"Their pitcher (Brendan King) did a great job of getting out of some tough jams the entire game. I'm really proud of the guys for hanging in there and fighting all game."
Barrington will face Mid-Suburban League rival and 16th-seed Prospect (17-15) in Saturday's 11 a.m. regional final. The winner advances to the Barrington sectional.
Fremd 6, Glenbrook North 3: Senior lefty Matt Johnsen (7-2) rebounded from the Mid-Suburban League title game loss as he went the distance for No. 7 Fremd (20-10) in its 4A regional semifinal.
Johnsen had 2 walks and 1 strikeout and gave up only 1 run until the seventh.
"He threw great," said Fremd coach Chris Piggott. "They put the ball in play and we played good defense. It was typical Matt Johnsen stuff."
The Vikings, who host No. 2 Stevenson (27-6) for the regional title at 1 p.m. Saturday, got 2 hits apiece from the bottom two and top two spots in the order.
They set up four two-out runs in the second as Joey DePaolis had a single, Chris Doloughty had a two-strike RBI single and Todd Dunham and Zenon Kolakowski had RBI singles.
Mundelein 8, Hersey 7: After a couple of hundred-plus pitches - which yielded 19 hits, including a dramatic grand slam, and 12 walks - and nearly three hours of baseball, the Class 4A regional opener between Hersey and Mundelein was decided by an umpire's call.
A bags-loaded balk.
"I've never seen that one before," Mundelein catcher Matt Risdon said after he and his teammates won 8-7 on a walk-off balk with one out in the bottom of the seventh at Lake Zurich on Thursday, earning Mundelein (25-8) a berth in Saturday's 11 a.m. regional final against the winner of Friday's semifinal between Lake Zurich and Rolling Meadows.
Those who stuck around until the end probably couldn't believe what they saw.
Trailing 5-0 against Mundelein ace Jay Mueller, Hersey (18-19) erupted for 7 runs in the top of the sixth. The Huskies' first five batters reached against Mueller, who was coasting with a 4-hitter through five. The senior left with the bases loaded and leading 5-2.
Mustangs sophomore lefty Dante Martinez retired the first two hitters he faced, but then walked Joe Koziol to force in a run and make it 5-3.
That brought up leadoff-batter Kevin Polinski, who drilled a pitch over the center-field fence for a grand slam.
"Our Achilles' heel all year has been our inconsistent pitching," Hersey coach Bob Huber said. "You would think when you get 7 (runs) like that you'd be able to go out and shut them down."
Mundelein knocked out Hersey starter Steve Danielak in the sixth, pulling within 7-6 on Jack Cunnion's RBI fielder's choice off reliever Koziol and tying it when Mueller coaxed a two-out bases-loaded walk off Ryan Busse.
Colin Franklin worked a scoreless top of the seventh for Mundelein. Then in the bottom of the inning, with one out, Risdon doubled off the left-field fence, missing his first homer of the season by inches.
After Anthony Cancelli walked, Huber replaced Busse with fellow lefty Sal Locascio, who allowed a sharp single to Kevin Barber to load the bases.
With a 1-2 count on Franklin, courtesy runner Blair Metzger took a lead off third and tried to bait Locascio.
When Locascio stepped off the rubber, the umpire ruled a balk and Mundelein celebrated at home plate.
"You got to step off first and then you (can) break your hands," Huber explained. "(The umpire) said he broke his hands WHILE he was stepping off."
"There was no question that he balked," Mundelein coach Todd Parola said. "We'd been doing that all game at third - just taking a couple of hard steps and stopping. The third baseman yelled, 'Step off,' and fortunately we got the balk."
Mundelein pounded out 11 hits, including solo homers by Cancelli and Colton Tortorello.
Hersey got 2 hits apiece from Chris James (2 doubles), Jake Knauss (2-run single) and Chris Polinski.
"Credit the kids," Huber said of his team's comeback. "They didn't get down. They scored 7 runs off a great pitcher and a great team. It should have been enough to do the trick, but it wasn't our day."
- Joe Aguilar
Leyden 5, Maine South 2: Leyden's "Big Z" didn't let 6 errors bother him in the Maine South 4A regional semifinal.
Senior Ricky Zapata (7-2) threw a 3-hitter and didn't allow an earned run as the Eagles (17-14), the fifth seed in the Glenbrook South sectional, broke a 2-2 tie with a 3-run fifth.
"Zapata was awesome," Leyden coach Gary Wolf said after the right-hander had 8 strikeouts and 2 walks. "He was locating as well as he has all year. Ricky hit every spot he was supposed to hit and got ahead."
Zapata's single also set up the decisive rally where Adam Locassio drove in a run with a safety squeeze bunt and Danny Hartney had a sacrifice fly.
Mike Otte went 2-for-3 as Leyden will try to win its third straight regional title at 2:30 p.m. Saturday against Taft.
St. Patrick 3, Maine West 2: Seventh-seeded Maine West had its season end at 24-8 with the 4A regional semifinal loss at New Trier.