DeKalb rallies to beat Kaneland, clinches share of Western Sun
With one day left in the Western Sun Conference season, the baseball race is finally starting to take shape. Well, sort of.
DeKalb claimed no worse than a share for the title by coming from behind to beat Kaneland 5-2 Wednesday night at Elfstrom Stadium.
Geneva (20-11, 13-7) lost its second straight to Sycamore, and fifth in the last six in conference. And Batavia (16-14, 13-7) stayed hot, beating Yorkville 4-2. That means there's still a chance for a four-way tie if Kaneland beats DeKalb on Thursday and Batavia and Geneva win.
DeKalb (19-8, 14-6) celebrated after its win Wednesday night. The Barbs posed for team photos and then tried, and missed, dumping a bucket of water on coach Justin Keck.
"It's a very big win for us, the kids are on cloud nine, but we still have another game to play tomorrow," Keck said. "We were just able to get the key hits tonight that in some of our losses we weren't able to do."
The Knights (21-12, 13-7) can still claim a share of the conference title by winning at DeKalb Thursday.
"We have a chance," Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said. "I'm glad Sycamore took care of business again tonight. I don't know how many lives we have but we're going to use them all. Hopefully tomorrow we can get one and tie this up again."
DeKalb took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Jake Jouris' RBI single.
Kaneland responded with its only two runs in the second inning. Bobby Thorson opened the inning with a single and Jake Tickle was hit by a pitch.
Corey Landers advanced the runners to second and third and Steve Colombe (2 hits) brought them in with a two-out single to center.
Kaneland held that 2-1 lead until the fifth. DeKalb's first three batters reached on a pair of singles and a walk off Ty Hamer.
DeKalb starter Ben Dallesasse helped himself by crushing a 1-1 pitch well over center fielder Joe Camiliere's head. All three runners scored on the play to give the Barbs a 4-2 lead.
The Knights nearly answered in their half of the fifth. Kyle Davidson singled and Jake Fiedler walked, and both advanced on a wild pitch.
With two outs Dave Dudzinski couldn't have hit the ball harder but his liner went straight to DeKalb center fielder Frank Petras.
"I thought that was a gapper," Aversa said. "Those will fall for us."
Dallesasse capped his complete game by finishing a 3-6-1 double play in the seventh inning. He struck out six, walked one and allowed 5 hits to improve to 8-1 overall, 7-0 in the Western Sun.
Colombe will pitch against DeKalb's Jake Lemay Thursday trying to give the Knights a share of the title.
"It's fun," Aversa said. "It's pretty crazy seeing all that evenness throughout the whole conference. I guess it's fitting for the last conference series."