Watseka denies Aurora Christian state berth
Aurora Christian's bid to add another chapter to a history-filled year at the school ended Monday night in the Class 2A Benedictine supersectional in Lisle against a pitcher with a rubber - and electric - right arm.
Watseka denied the Eagles baseball team in their bid for their first trip to state with a 9-3 win, about six months after Aurora Christian's football team made history by making it to Champaign.
Instead, it's Watseka, located just north of Champaign, that advances to the Class 2A semifinals Friday in Joliet against Stanford Olympia.
"I've never heard of Watseka before or knew where they are from," said Eagles senior David Zielke. "They are a great team."
Aurora Christian knew coming into the game it couldn't give up much against Watseka ace Drew Watts. But by the fourth inning, Watts had an 8-run cushion.
"He is an absolute stud for us," Watseka coach Darin Hartman said. "When he takes the mound our kids know he's going to hold good teams to three or less. So our kids offensively have so much more confidence at the plate. All it does is snowball."
Watts improved to 11-1, though the Eagles did push up an ERA that was 0.42 entering the game. The senior struck out the side in the first on his way to a career-high 14 in his complete game effort.
"He was able to keep us off balance, (swinging at) pitches up at our eyes we thought we could get to," Aurora Christian coach Andy Zorger said.
Watts, who is going to Kankakee Community College, tops out at 88 miles an hour. He started last Wednesday in sectionals, came back for an inning Saturday, then threw nearly 150 pitches Monday to beat the Eagles.
"I'm so tired," Watts said. "It (my arm) is about to fall off. That (early lead) set me on cruise control."
Aurora Christian didn't help itself early on the base paths. One runner was thrown out in the second trying to stretch a single into a double. With runners at second and third and two outs in the third, Watts uncorked a wild pitch that hit the backstop and bounced right back to catcher Brady Parker who fired to third to nail another runner to end the inning.
Watseka (24-5) took control early with a 4-run second inning. The inning started promisingly for Zielke (7-2), who fanned the first 2 hitters.
A double and walk put runners at the corners with two outs. Watseka followed with 2 singles and a 2-run triple by Dylan Defauw for a 4-0 lead.
It took Zielke 44 pitches to get out of the second inning. He got 2 strikes on two hitters that eventually got hits. Defauw fouled off five pitches before tripling.
"David couldn't quite put them away," Zorger said. "Give them credit. They battled and fought off pitches."
The Warriors made it 5-0 in the third on an RBI groundout from Tanner Harris, one of three Harris family members in the Watseka starting lineup along with his brother Sawyer and cousin Spencer.
Watseka knocked Zielke out in the fourth. Sawyer Harris singled, Seth Woods doubled off the right field wall and Brady Parker singled to end Zielke's night.
Watts greeted reliever Andru Ubert with a 2-run single to left and an 8-0 lead. Ubert fanned six in his 3 2/3 innings of relief.
The Eagles got on the board in the fourth. Watts walked the first two hitters and both scored - Matt Morse on Mitch Holtz' single and Ubert on Eric Andersen's sacrifice fly that just missed going for a 3-run homer to straight away center.
After Sawyer Harris homered in the top of the fifth, the Eagles answered with Ubert's bases loaded walk in their half. But with a chance to get back in the game, Watts fanned the Eagles' No. 4 and 5 hitters to leave the bases loaded.
"We couldn't get a big two-out hit to kind of chip away," Zorger said. "We were on the brink all night and couldn't quite break through."
Zac Copple and Morse led the Eagles' 8-hit attack with 2.
Aurora Christian finished the season with a 25-11 record and the first regional and sectional championships in school history.
"We had a great season, nothing to be ashamed of," Zorger said. "The seniors were incredible leading us, putting the time in. Too bad we couldn't get them downstate."