Marmion clinches 2nd straight conference title

Marmion broke its postgame huddle at Montini Tuesday with something the Cadets are getting used to saying.

"One-two-three, conference champs!"

The Cadets wrapped up their second straight outright conference title by turning a 4-1 fifth-inning deficit into a 12-4 win over the Broncos (14-15, 8-8).

Last year Marmion won the final Suburban Catholic title. Now they own the first Suburban Christian Blue division crown.

"It's a big deal for us," Marmion catcher Bobby Winkel said. "You can come back in 20 years and look up on the wall and see back to back for us.

"We're getting more competitive. It seems in the past, not that Marmion wasn't competitive, but they didn't have that edge. It seems a lot of the guys are getting that edge and it's helping us out a lot."

Marmion (18-10, 12-4) repeated this year with a largely new core from last year's senior-dominated team. One of the newcomers pitched Tuesday's clinching win, junior Tim Tarter.

The 6-foot-4 lefty, who missed last year with a stress fracture in his elbow, pitched the first complete game of his career Tuesday to improve to 5-1.

"It's been rewarding just to watch these guys grow and get that confidence and realize they can be a good baseball team," Marmion coach Dave Rakow said.

After the first couple weeks this year the Cadets didn't exactly look like championship material. They started slowly at 1-4.

Part of that was the schedule which included Geneva, Batavia, Kaneland and Wheaton Warrenville South, part of it the newcomers adjusting to varsity baseball.

"We knew we had some bigger teams early on and we couldn't get down on ourselves," Winkel said. "We just weren't hitting the ball yet and it would come. Playing those teams early gave us confidence we could play, and it was a big deal for us to come out and start playing well after those first couple games."

Montini starter Jared Jayne staked himself to a 1-0 lead with a first inning ground out that scored Kevin Hankins, who singled to start the game.

Marmion, who didn't score in 7 innings against Batavia on Monday, ran the scoreless streak to 10 innings. Will Sterne finally got the Cadets going with a leadoff double in the fourth and scored on Winkel's RBI single to make it 1-1.

"I think everybody relaxed after that," Rakow said. "We had such a tough time at the plate (Monday). We needed somebody to hit the ball hard. Kudos to Sterne for coming out and doing that. He really got us going."

Montini answered with 3 runs in its half of the fourth. Tom Roupp and Frank Montalto walked and Mike Davis followed with his second home run of the season over the right-field fence.

"All we needed to do was close it down after that," Montini coach Bill Leeberg said. "Give them credit, they hit the ball."

Tarter threw three scoreless innings after the home run, allowing a pair of singles.

"After that home run he got angry and started throwing harder and they couldn't touch him," Winkel said. "He had some good stuff today."

Marmion took the lead for good with four runs in the fifth. Tydd tripled home a run and then scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-3. After Sterne walked, Winkel drove a 1-1 fastball onto 16th Street for a 2-run home and a 5-4 lead.

"Me and Will have been talking about getting hits back-to-back and we really needed that boost to get us going," Winkel said. "This team is a streaky team and once one person starts hitting everyone starts hitting."

The Cadets turned the game into a blowout with four more runs in the sixth and three in the seventh. Joe Wulff delivered the big hit in both innings, a pair of 2-run singles to give him 4 RBI.

Jayne (0-2), who normally pitches in relief, took the loss despite striking out seven in his season-high 5 innings of work.

"We wanted to extend him a little," Leeberg said. "I thought he pitched an excellent ballgame."

Tarter also worked a season-high on the mound. Rakow came out to talk to him in the seventh after a pair of walks and a single before Tarter settled down. He finished with 8 strikeouts while allowing 5 hits and 5 walks. He threw 79 of his 133 pitches for strikes.

"I was going to pull him and he said, 'Coach, I've never thrown a complete game, I can get these guys out,'" Rakow said. "He begged and pleaded. I said, 'All right, one more runner gets on we are going to pull you.' Good for him for wanting to go out and fight."