Peters' play saves the day for Marmion in upset of BC

Who would have ever guessed standing 6-foot-6 would help Mark Peters more in baseball than basketball?

The St. Xavier basketball recruit used his height - not to mention agility, timing, speed and determination - to make the biggest catch in Marmion history Thursday in the Class 3A DeKalb sectional semifinals.

Peters raced back and then over the center field wall to rob Burlington Central's Nick Hahn of the game-tying home run for the final out in a 7-6 victory.

Peters jumped to make the catch, then simultaneously hit the fence and toppled over it with the ball in his glove. Umpires huddled quickly before ruling it a catch while the entire Cadet team sprinted out to celebrate with Peters in deep center field.

"I kind of knew it was going to be close going out," Peters said. "I tried finding the fence. I jumped up and went after it. I knew it was deep and I just ran back as far as I could and tried to make the play. I just popped up pretty fast and it (the ball) was in my glove."

Peters also took a home run away in the seventh inning against Aurora Christian earlier this season, though he didn't fall over the fence to do that and he didn't save the Cadets' season, either.

"He's 6-6 and used all of it right there," Marmion coach Dave Rakow said. "If he was any shorter I don't know if he would have made the play. Thank God he's tall."

Marmion (22-11) will play host DeKalb (24-10) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday for the sectional title. This is the second time in three years the Cadets have reached the sectional championship. They have never won a sectional.

Burlington's season end at 32-3, the most victories in school history.

"We can't look at that last play as the reason," Burlington Central coach Kyle Nelson said. "There were six or seven plays we normally make and it didn't happen. We didn't have any business being in that game the way we played. We certainly picked a bad time for it."

If not for Peters' heroics, Hahn was about to tie a game that Marmion led 7-1 in the bottom of the sixth.

Like they did in the regional final Saturday when Oswego committed 4 errors, the Cadets capitalized on 5 Burlington Central miscues.

The first came in the third inning when Chris Tydd's single got away from Burlington Central's right fielder allowing Tydd to reach third. He scored on Joe Wulff's groundout for a 1-0 lead.

Marmion plated 3 more runs in the fourth, helped again by 2 Rocket errors. Peters delivered an RBI single, Jack Grunderson's grounder brought home another run and Tydd's fly ball made it 4-0.

After the Rockets went hitless in three innings against Marmion starter Tim Tarter, Sam Klein led off the fourth with a solo home run.

Marmion answered with 3 more runs in the fifth, a rally started by a one-out error. Tarter helped himself with an RBI single and Kyle Kozak doubled home two more for a 7-1 lead.

It was the Cadets' turn for defensive breakdowns in the sixth inning that led to a pair of unearned runs and cut their lead to 7-3.

That set the stage for the thrilling bottom of the seventh. Another Marmion error and Klein's single put two runners on base, and Tanner Scott blasted a 3-run home run to turn it into a 7-6 game.

"When you get this far in the playoffs there's no such thing as a safe lead," Rakow said. "Luckily we did just enough again."

Rakow removed Tarter and brought in Will Sterne who retired Austin Jarvis and Hahn for his fourth save of the season and second straight in the playoffs, though Rakow might also want to give Peters a save for his season-saving catch.

"Outstanding play and there's nothing we could do about that," Nelson said. "They made the big play and we didn't."

Tarter and Kozak led Marmion's attack both going 3-for-4. Tydd added 2 hits. Klein and Scott had 2 hits for the Rockets.

Burlington entered the game averaging over 10 runs a game but Tarter allowed just 1 walk, 6 hits and 3 earned runs in his 6 1/3 innings.

"I didn't know what I was coming up against," Tarter said. "I just heard they had Jarvis and he needed a couple RBIs to set the (state RBI) record. I knew I had to keep it low.

"What I have been sticking to all year is working fastball inside/outside. When I get in the middle of the lineup I'll mix it up."

Burlington continually made its outs through the air, grounding out just twice.

"His fastball rides a little more than we are used to," Nelson said. "Guys were just getting underneath it. If we put more pressure early in the game, but we didn't do that. We had a bad approach to start the game. Not playing your best baseball is a tough way to lose."

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