New Trier holds off Cary-Grove
The way right-handed pitchers Corey Bruns of Cary-Grove and Bob Cook of New Trier were throwing, runs were as precious as water in the desert during Friday's Class 4A state baseball semifinal.
New Trier, which scored a key insurance run in the top of the seventh inning and held off a Cary-Grove charge in the bottom half, left the Trojans thirsting for what might have been with a 3-2 victory at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.
Cary-Grove (31-9-1) will play O'Fallon (31-10) for the third-place trophy today at 4 p.m.
New Trier (31-7) will play St. Rita (35-6) for the Class 4A title at 7 p.m.
Cary-Grove trailed 3-1 heading into its final at-bat with the Nos. 8 and 9 hitters due. After two quick outs - the first on a diving play in center field by Charlie Tilson on a liner off Stu Gaulke's bat - left fielder Eric Chandler sliced a bloop single to left field.
Catcher Luke Mottashed followed with a walk, and shortstop Chris Waylock muscled a 2-2 pitch from Cook to right center field to score Chandler from second, cutting the deficit to 3-2.
That brought up cleanup hitter Matt Nelsen, who 3-for-3 with 3 singles and a run batted in. With the tying run on third, Cook induced a 2-hopper to third base and the throw across the diamond was in time to seal the victory for the Trevians.
"I was hoping to get to (Nos.) 2-3-4 and we did, so we were confident there," Cary-Grove coach Don Sutherland said of the seventh inning rally. "Matthew just didn't get it through. He had a great day. He just didn't get that last ball through. You have to give them a lot of credit."
Two sequences loomed large in a 1-run outcome.
In the top of the seventh, New Trier had runners at first and third with nobody out when Gordie Campbell hit a groundball to second base. Cary-Grove's Mark Thomson tossed the ball to Waylock covering second base, but his relay to first was hindered by a pop-up slide by the New Trier baserunner. The umpire called interference, resulting in a double play and a dead ball, meaning the runner from third could not advance. It was the fourth double play of the game turned by Waylock and Thomson.
However, New Trier's J.B. McCallum drove in what proved to be the winning run with a two-out basehit to push the lead to 3-1.
Another key play took place in the third inning with Cary-Grove leading 1-0. Waylock singled with two outs and tried to score on a single to the right-center field gap by Nelsen, but a perfect relay from the outfield grass by New Trier shortstop Tim Duxbury nipped Waylock at the plate. Opinions of the out call varied from dugout to dugout.
"He tried to kind of hook slide, but I didn't think he got there before me," New Trier catcher Lowell Hall said.
"I put my hand in there between his legs," Waylock said. "He got me on the elbow, but I thought I was safe. Then I looked at the ump and he said I was out. That was a key point. If we had gotten that run in I think we wouldn't have taken the ballgame home."
"In my opinion Chris' hand was in there when he was called out," Sutherland said. "That would have been nice."
New Trier tied the game in the fourth inning. It loaded the bases with a single by Jonathan Hall, a bunt that wasn't fielded cleanly by Bruns and a bunt hit by Tilson. Hall scampered home one out later on a wild pitch to knot it at 1-1.
The Trevians took their first lead, 2-1, in the sixth inning, thanks to Duxbury's two-out single to center field.
The Trojans grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Mottashed and Waylock each singled, and Nelsen drove in courtesy runner Alex Hembrey from second base with a groundball through the middle of the infield.
The Trojans said they don't intend to let up today despite being eliminated from title contention.
"There is a lot of pride in what we've done this year," Mottashed said. "There are 500-some teams in the state, so for us to make it to third would be a huge accomplishment for us. No matter how it goes down - if we win third or fourth - we should keep our heads up because not many teams get as far as we did or have a run like we did."