Barrington Broncos stay alive, eliminate Knights

For 7 innings, Barrington's Sean Buchholz and Prospect's John Coen matched each other pitch for pitch in the Class 4A Highland Park regional baseball final.

Ninth-seeded Barrington and 17th-seed Prospect entered the eighth inning tied at 0-0, but the Pete Bonahoom's two out RBI double gave the Knights a brief 1-0 advantage.

Barrington's Anthony Brignola knotted the score with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the eighth.

Three batters later, Chris Holke hit a hard single to third, and the ensuing throw ended up down the right-field line, allowing Johnny Day to score the winning run all the way from first base to give Barrington a hard fought 2-1 regional title victory at Wolters Field.

Barrington (19-14) won its 17th regional title and advances to host its own sectional. The Broncos will play Libertyville at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"It doesn't get much better than that," said Barrington coach Jim Hawrysko of the pitching duel between Buchholz and Coen. "Both pitchers did a great job. We were fortunate to have someone in that spot where on a bad throw we could score."

"It's baseball, things like that happen," said Prospect coach Ross Giusti, whose team finished 17-16. "We certainly had some ups and downs this season, and lost some tough games - this obviously is the toughest. But I'm very proud of this team."

Buchholz (4-4) picked up the win, allowing only 1 run on 6 hits in eight innings. The junior righty was almost untouchable the first 7 innings, striking out 10 and allowing only three Knights into scoring position.

"I was throwing hard and hitting my spots," said Buchholz, who was mixing his slider with his fastball while allowing only 1 hit between the third and seventh inning. "I came into this game feeling really good about myself."

But Coen (4-3) was just as effective, allowing only 1 earned run with 7 hits in 8 innings. The Knights junior retired 11 of 12 batters, recording 6 of his 9 strikeouts between the third and top of the seventh inning.

"I was just matching what (Buchholz) was doing out there," said Coen who relied on a steady diet of curveballs. "If he went 1-2-3, I knew I had to go 1-2-3."

Coen appeared to score the go ahead run in the top of the eighth on a double by Jason Leblebijian, but a perfect throw from left fielder Derek Foderaro to Day nailed the junior at the plate.

Bonahoom then scorched a double to deep left field, just missing a homer and scoring Leblebijian giving the Knights a 1-0 lead.

But Barrington answered with Brignola (3-for-4) starting the winning rally for the Broncos with a homer to right field off a high curve to tie the game at 1-1.

Day then reached on a fielder's choice and came home with the Broncos' winning run on the throwing error from third.

"I saw it go over first base," said Day, who never slowed up rounding third. "Even if I was held up I was going home. We've been in a lot of 1-run games, so we're familiar with them. It's nice to finally win one."