Foul play, dark finish at Carmel

On his game-tying hit with two outs in the eighth inning, Carmel’s Brian Brennan thought he’d hit the ball backward.

“I thought it went foul,’’ Brennan said.

It was that kind of game on Monday in Mundelein, where Carmel and rival St. Viator played baseball for more than 3 hours. The Corsairs had 17 hits but could not win this game.

Of course, they didn’t lose it, either. Carmel scored 2 runs in the home half of the eighth and loaded the bases. And then the umpiring crew called the game due to darkness.

It was 9-9 at the time.

“St. Viator is a good team,’’ Brennan said. “But we had many more hits than they did. This feels like a loss, though.”

Tim Hendricks had a 4-hit day. Brian Serio and Brennan each had 3 hits.

Carmel had a 6-run fourth inning. That was the good news.

Carmel’s pitching staff issued 11 walks. The Corsairs also made 4 errors.

Carmel coach Joe May wasn’t mad at the umpiring crew for calling the game his team 90 feet from winning the contest.

“I had no issue with that,’’ May said. “If their pitcher got hurt, the ump is culpable. The first thing we care about is the safety of the kids.”

This tie should be broken on Wednesday when the two teams meet again in Arlington Heights.

Serio led off Carmel’s first inning with a hit and came home on Tommy Ryan’s sacrifice fly. The Lions took a 2-1 lead in the top half of the second.

Brian Pichardo had a double in the frame but an infield error by Carmel helped St. Viator rally.

“Good things came out of this,’’ May said. “It showed both teams can battle. But there was a bit of bad in this game, too.”

Cory Kay’s RBI double in the fourth inning gave St. Viator a 5-1 advantage. That was just before Carmel batted around in the home half of the frame.

Included in the 6-hit inning was a 2-run double by Hendricks and a 2-run single from Serio. Jim Ryan chipped in a run-scoring single. Blake Bucsa brought home another run with a squeeze bunt hit.

As quickly as the offense had come in this ESCC contest, it went to sleep for the next four innings. What bothered Brennan the most was the seventh-inning threat that fizzled.

Luke Venegoni opened with a booming double. Brennan laid down a gorgeous bunt. And when he stole second base, the Corsairs were in great shape to win in regulation. To the credit of St. Viator reliever Chris Myjak, the next three Corsairs hitters struck out.

“That’s been our bugaboo,’’ May said. “That is, not putting the ball in play when we have runners on.”

Kay was the lone Lion with more than one hit.