Immaculate Conception runs out of time
In the middle of a sprint, Immaculate Conception's baseball team wanted a marathon.
The Knights fell 6-4 to Illinois Valley Central in the Class 2A third-place game Saturday at Joliet's Silver Cross Field in a matchup shortened to five innings due to the inclement weather threatening the area.
The Grey Ghosts (33-6) sensed the urgency of the shortened game and stormed to a 4-1 lead on a 2-run second-inning homer by Travis Thacker and a 2-run shot by Drasen Johnson in the third inning.
"With the pressure of a five-inning game, you never know what's going to happen," said IVC coach Jerry Rashid. "I thought it was real important to get a lead. It's like you're playing in the third to start out with."
Like Friday's 9-4 semifinal loss to Teutopolis, Immaculate Conception (30-12) rallied to tie Saturday's game 4-4 by surging in the middle innings. Unfortunately, the middle innings were actually the final innings.
When IVC scored twice in the top of the fifth on an RBI single by Derek Sprout and his eventual steal of home, the 6-4 deficit was too much for the Knights to overcome. Carlos Rodriguez coaxed a one-out walk in the bottom of the fifth, but he was stranded at first base.
"Maybe if the game had gone the full seven, we could have kept it going," said Immaculate Conception starting pitcher Matt McMahon. "We're typically a late-inning team. We didn't get the last couple of hits we needed, but we charged at the end. We gave it all we had."
Austin Hennessy's RBI single narrowed the gap to 2-1 in the bottom of the second inning. Jose Godinez pulled the Knights within 4-3 in the third inning with a two-out, 2-run homer, his seventh of the season, but they couldn't take advantage of a hit and walk that followed.
"After (the home run) I thought everyone was going to get excited, and we were," Godinez said. "Carlos got a hit after me, we just didn't keep going."
Immaculate Conception tied the score at 4-4 in the fourth inning when a throwing error on a stolen base allowed pinch-runner Brian Harvey to score from third base. The Grey Ghosts committed 3 errors in the fourth.
The Knights will celebrate winning the first state trophy in the baseball program's history with a reception in the Immaculate Conception gymnasium at 7:30 p.m. Monday.
"Obviously, when you make it down this far you're going to face good competition, and I think we did a pretty good job," said Knights coach Dan Holleman. "A couple mistakes here and there and that was the difference in the ballgame today."