Glenbard South rally goes for naught

At the end Glenbard South was left only with “what ifs.”

What if Illiana Christian coach Dan Gibson hadn’t brought in Seth Wiltjer as a defensive replacement in left field for the bottom of the seventh inning?

What if Wiltjer wasn’t playing a short left field against Raiders cleanup hitter Zach Bava?

What if Bava hadn’t hit his sinking liner quite so hard?

Instead Illiana Christian won Thursday’s series finale 7-3 in 9 innings, claiming the Metro Suburban Conference championship in a winner-take-all game in Glen Ellyn.

“It’s a tough loss,” Glenbard South coach Mike Riley said. “It certainly could have went to either team. We made too many mistakes defensively to give them some runs early in the game.”

Raiders starting pitcher Ben Gaspar cruised through the first three innings before giving up 2 unearned runs in the fourth. The Vikings (20-9, 16-2) scored one more in the fifth inning and starter Braden Mulder took that 3-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning.

“He was a good pitcher,” Bava said. “He kept you thinking, kept you on your toes. He had a hanger that was very good, and you weren’t sure when he was going to throw it, which makes him a good pitcher, because when you don’t know it’s coming it makes him a lot harder to hit.”

Gaspar led off the seventh with a double, and courtesy runner Sean Bailey went to third on Billy Strohl’s long flyball to center field. With two outs pinch hitter Roger Dyrda fell behind in the count before coaxing a walk after several two-strike foul balls.

Leadoff hitter Justin Joseph’s infield hit broke the shutout, and Ethan Gasbarro reached on an error to load the bases. Aaron Beese tied the game with a 2-run single, Joseph sliding home just under the tag.

“It’s just nice to come out on top,” Gibson said. “Glenbard South’s a great team. They played a really good game. To come back with two outs in the seventh showed something about their team. But it’s nice to get that win for the guys and get that conference championship.”

With a 2-2 count Bava sent his ill-fated line drive to left field, Wiltjer made a sliding catch, and the game went to extra innings.

“That was great,” Bava said of the rally. “I’m going to remember that for a long time. I was hoping to get the winning hit, but I got robbed.”

“If the kid wasn’t playing shallow to make a throw to the plate on a basehit, he might not have caught that,” Riley said. “A shoestring catch. Talk about a game of inches. If he doesn’t hit it quite that hard we probably score a run on that. But it happens. You just gotta live with it.”

Glenbard South (18-11, 14-4) pulled Gaspar for the ninth inning, and Illiana Christian was glad to see him gone. Jordan Davis scored on Joe Heldt’s seeing-eye single to right field, and Britt Botterman, who re-entered the game in left field for Wiltjer, cleared the bases with a 3-run home run to left.

“We didn’t send Gaspar back out there because he had 127 pitches going into that inning,” Riley said. “If you look back at the first couple of innings he’s laboring because we make an error at second base, then we drop a pop-up, the right fielder throws the ball to the wrong base and before you know it the guy’s throwing 25-30 pitches in an inning. You get to the end of the game and I can’t send a kid back out there when he’s thrown 127 pitches.”