Hendricks tosses a gem as Carmel splits

Carmel Catholic’s Timmy Hendricks showed why he is one of the Corsairs’ top pitchers.

The lefty scattered 7 hits in a 5-1, complete-game victory over visiting Marian Catholic in the opener of an East Suburban Catholic Conference baseball doubleheader Saturday.

In the nightcap, Devin Pickett hit a walk-off grand slam, as the Spartans won 5-1.

Carmel finished the day 15-13 overall and 4-9 in the ESCC. Marian Catholic left Mundelein with 16-15 and 5-9 marks.

The 6-foot Hendricks struck out seven and walked two.

“I was able to hit my spots,” Hendricks said. “I had a couple of pitches working for me, and my defense played great behind me.

“The biggest difference for me is location,” Hendricks added. “When I’m not locating pitches, runners get on, and that’s when I get in trouble and we lose games. I’m definitely getting stronger and pitching a lot more than last year.”

Hendricks improved his record to 4-2.

“Timmy Hendricks pitched a whale of a game,” Carmel coach Joe May said. “We picked up the ball behind him, minimized our errors and minimized walks, which has been a big problem for us this year.”

Left fielder Brian Serio led Carmel’s offense with 2 hits. He scored twice and drove in two runs off Marian Catholic starting pitcher Robert Nunn.

“I was looking for fastballs and he threw me a couple, so I was able to jump on them,” said Serio, who is hitting close to .500 this season. “(Nunn) is a good pitcher and was around the plate the entire game. But we started to swing the bats, and in the fifth inning we were able to put some runs up there.”

Nunn allowed 8 hits, struck out six and walked only one.

“He’s been like that all year,” Spartans coach Phil Weil said. “He’s been one of our most consistent guys, but we make it hard for him because he pitches with no defense to back him up.”

The game was tied 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth, when Carmel sent eight batters to the plate and scored 4 runs after two were out.

Brian Brennan reached on a dribbler that managed to stay fair, Tommy Ryan singled, and Serio singled both runners in. Jimmy Ryan singled in a run and Hendricks reached on an error to score Serio.

The second game was almost the same scenerio as the first game, but this time it was Marian Catholic that rallied in the bottom of the seventh.

With the scored tied 1-1, Joshua Pieper reached first on an infield single, Brian Munoz singled, and Richard Cervantes walked to load the bases.

Pickett then parked the first pitch he saw over the right-field fence.

“I just went up there relaxed,” said Pickett, whose homer was his second of the season. “I hadn’t been hitting the ball consistently in the past few games. I saw a pitch that I thought that I thought I could hit and went with it.”

Starting pitchers Adam Warkenthein of Carmel and Brett Lilek of Marian Catholic pitched well, but neither figured in the decision.

Warkenthein pitched 5 innings, giving up 1 unearned run on 3 hits. He struck out five and walked two.

“I found the strike zone, and the curveball was working real good,” Warkenthein said. “I just let them hit it and got some strikeouts.”

Benjamin Santori earned the win.

For Carmel, it was deja vu.

“This was a tough loss because it was the third walk-off game we lost this week,” May said. “It’s frustrating because you know you are in the game and have a chance to win the game.”

Weil was happier at the end of the second game.

“We just tell our guys to keep working hard,” Weil said.” After you lose one, you just have to come back and fight and try to get one.”