Kaneland rallies past Marmion in 7th for 1st win

The Kaneland baseball team didn't want to head into a 5-game road trip winless.

After dropping its first two ballgames of the season, the Knights looked to get into the win column on Saturday against Marmion.

The Knights almost let one slip away, as the Cadets rallied in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 6-all before the Knights answered with the game-winner in the bottom of the frame to win, 7-6.

"We talked about winning ugly and Bobby (Thorson) pitched a heck of a game and then we kind of let him down in that last inning," Knights coach Brian Aversa said. "We didn't play very well defensively and fortunately Marmion was kind of in the same boat and it cost them, and almost cost us. It could've went either way today."

The game was tied at 3-3 in the bottom of the sixth before back-to-back doubles by Thorson and Tyler Callaghan pushed the Knights ahead 4-3. The Knights received a pair of much-needed insurance runs later in the inning. Ty Hamer walked and then moved into scoring position along with Callaghan on an errant pickoff attempt. A wild pitch brought in Callaghan and Hamer followed on a ground out off the bat of Dave Dudzinski.

"Guys are finally starting to come around and it's hard to hit in the wind," Aversa said. "Luckily we got the cushion and we needed everyone one of them and then still had to battle back for one more."

Callaghan said the hitting is slowly starting to come around.

"I didn't feel that comfortable in our first game but after a few swings I started to get a better feel," he said. "I'm just going out there and trying to do what I can with what they give me."

Thorson, who fanned 8 and surrendered just 4 hits but walked 4, was relieved by Jake Tickle in the seventh. Tickle fanned 2 of the first 3 men he faced, but one reached on an error which would prove costly. A single by Chris Tydd brought the tying run to the plate and Tim Tarter cracked a 2-run double. Bobby Winkel followed with a game-tying double before getting thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a triple.

"We looked at a lot of strike threes today but with our backs against the wall we finally started jumping on some pitches in the zone," Cadets coach Dave Rakow said. "Hopefully it'll be a learning experience for these guys and they'll get that sense of urgency earlier in the game."

Kaneland (1-2) scored the game-winner in the bottom of the seventh with two outs. Kyle Davidson led off with a walk and remained there as right-hander Jack Gunderson sent down the next two he faced. Davidson moved into scoring position by stealing second base and then came all the way around to score when a groundball off the bat of Callaghan was thrown beyond first baseman Tarter's reach.

"We're a pretty young team and most guys didn't play on varsity last year," Rakow said. "Errors are something that can be fixed. That's the good thing about it. It's bad we're making them but they're fixable."

Marmion (1-2) received 2 hits apiece from Tydd and Winkel.