Wahl's slam sparks Larkin rout of Jefferson
Alex Wahl was sitting dead red in the bottom of the first inning Monday against Rockford Jefferson.
The Larkin senior got the right pitch in the right place and clobbered a grand slam to give the Royals a 7-0 lead. Larkin cruised from there for a 15-2 five-inning victory in the Class 4A Jacobs regional play-in game in Elgin.
"It was 2-0 so I was sitting on fastball," Wahl said. "I've been getting down in the count lately so I wanted to be aggressive with the first (good) pitch."
The fourth-seeded Royals (10-23) will play No. 1 Huntley at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the regional semifinals.
Larkin scored 8 runs in the first inning. Scott Harm singled in a run and Shane Glasgow doubled home another. Reed Ellis also scored on a wild pitch. After Wahl's grand slam to left field and a groundout, Lee Jackson walked, stole second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a balk. It was Jackson's second run scored of the inning.
"When we've been on (offensively) we've been on," Royals coach Matt Esterino said. "It's just matters on the day and which team shows up."
Wahl drove in Glasgow in the second, again with the bases loaded, with a single to left. Trevor Whitehead also scored on the play after a throwing error to give Larkin a 10-0 lead.
The Royals added five more runs in the third. Glasgow, who had 3 hits, 2 doubles and 3 RBI, drove in a pair with a single to left. Drew Shore hit a sacrifice fly to drive in a run. Wahl picked up his sixth RBI of the game with a hard-hit infield single. Jackson added an RBI single.
The J-Hawks (8-23) picked up runs in the third and fifth innings.
Shore (2-5) earned the victory. The sophomore right-hander went 4 innings, allowed 4 hits and 1 run. He walked two, hit a batter and struck out two.
Larkin, which broke a five-game losing streak, made a run to the sectional final last season, and hopes to surprise a few teams this year.
"We're definitely not satisfied," Wahl said. "We want to win regionals and after that, go from there."