Quick start helps Libertyville past Barrington
It was a good start to the postseason for Libertyville's baseball team Thursday afternoon against No. 10-seeded Barrington.
The No. 6-seeded host Wildcats jumped out to a 5-0 lead over the Broncos after five innings before posting a 6-4 victory in the semifinals of their own Class 4A regional.
Libertyville (23-11) will host No. 3 Carmel for the regional title Saturday at 10 a.m. Barrington closed out its season with a 20-15 record.
The Wildcats scored 3 runs on 2 hits against Barrington starter Tyler Tureck in the bottom of the third, but 3 of the Broncos' 5 errors resulted in 2 unearned runs for Libertyville.
Winning pitcher sophomore Dar Townsend got the Wildcats' third-inning rally going with a single, and he advanced to second when the left fielder mishandled the ball.
Leadoff hitter Tyler Schweigert followed with a fielder's choice, ande teammate Nate Clark's sacrifice fly drove in Townsend with the first run.
Chad Uhler reached on an infield error to keep the inning alive before a walk by Brad Martin put runners on first and second.
Joey Eichmann hit an RBI single to center, but when the Barrington catcher tried to throw out Martin at third, the throw was wild and Martin scored for a 3-0 lead.
"You've got to play defense to win this game and you have to play defense to advance," said Broncos coach Jim Hawrysko, whose team outhit the Wildcats 11-6. "Their pitcher did a good job with 2 strikeouts in a row (in the sixth inning), and he really came up big."
Libertyville scored 2 more runs on 1 hit in the bottom of the fifth when Schweigert led off with a walk, stole second and moved to third on another throwing error by the catcher.
A sacrifice fly by Clark made the score 4-0, and Eichmann's RBI single gave the Wildcats a 5-0 edge.
But the Broncos rallied for 3 runs on 5 hits in the top of the sixth. A bad-hop single by Max Redpath got things started before Jim Cook singled and Anthony Brignola nailed a 2-run triple to left-center.
With one out, Jack Scheffler hit an RBI single to center that cut the gap to 5-3. Derek Foderaro singled to left as the runners moved up to second and third on a miscue by the left fielder.
But Townsend recorded 2 strikeouts to end the inning.
"I just did what I could to make the right pitch and my teammates have a lot of faith in me," said Townsend, who had 11 strikeouts. "We have a lot of confidence in each other, and if we have our 'A' game we can win."
The Wildcats added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth when Townsend hit a two-out double off Chris Rogers before scoring on an RBI single by Clark.
Pinch hitter Sean Buchholz led off the top of the seventh with a single and scored on Brignola's bloop single that cut the gap to 6-4 with two outs. But Townsend recorded a final strikeout to end the game.
"We had a real good feel how to pitch these guys and it was pretty much about hitting spots," said Wildcats coach Jim Schurr, whose team beat Carmel 4-1 during the regular season. "We felt like we could run on them, and one of our keys was we had to be aggressive on the bases. So we tried to run as often as we could."