Landwehr, Prospect rally for MSL title

Situations which would bring out the worst in a lot of teams seem to bring out the best in Prospect this baseball season.

The Knights’ resilience was displayed in championship fashion Saturday. They trailed by 5 runs early and by 2 runs with Palatine needing only two more outs to claim the Mid-Suburban League title.

Prospect rallied to tie it in the bottom of the seventh, and then junior Jack Landwehr’s one-out RBI double to right-center in the eighth capped the dramatic comeback to an 8-7 victory at Larry Pohlman Field.

“When I saw that ball in the gap my heart was racing,” said Prospect senior first baseman Brian Bauer, who celebrated his 18th birthday by going 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI doubles. “That might have been our greatest moment all year, seeing the ball fall and (Luke) Bergman coming around to score.”

Landwehr went 4-for-5 with 2 RBI and also gave up 1 run and 2 hits in 3 innings of relief to improve to 10-2. Prospect (21-8) came back from a 6-1 deficit after 2½ innings to claim its fifth MSL title and first since 2003.

Bergman beat out an infield single deep in the hole at shortstop to start the eighth and Matt Molini sacrificed. After Peter Bonahoom was intentionally walked, Landwehr delivered his third hit to right-center.

“It was going through my mind if I hit a ground ball they could turn a double play, so I had to get the ball to the outfield and sure enough it happened,” Landwehr said after throwing 40 pitches and leaving the go-ahead run at third in the eighth with a strikeout. “I wasn’t trying to do too much with it and I was trying to drive the ball the other way.

“We’ve been battling back all year. We don’t have the fastest of starts but it was like a 5-0 game.”

Palatine (21-14) powered its way to a big start off Prospect starter Ben Menich. Cody Bobbit (3-for-5) launched a 3-run homer to center in the second and the run-scoring cycle had an RBI single by Vince Portera, an RBI double by Joe Walsh and an RBI triple by Jesse Bobbit.

But it was far from over.

“Not against that team,” said Palatine coach Paul Belo. “I thought we had good approaches at the plate and did a great job against Menich. We showed great patience to run the count in our favor.”

Menich and Prospect’s defense prevented the deficit from being even larger. Left fielder Steve Dazzo reached over the fence to take away a homer from Kurt Becker in the second.

After Portera walked to start the fourth, Bauer made a diving stop to his right to take away a hit from Cody Bobbit and from his knees threw to second for the force.

Becker was then robbed again when his one-hop shot was snagged by Molini to start a 4-6-3 double play with Bergman.

“That got us energized — really energized,” Landwehr said.

“Those plays really elevated our energy level,” said Prospect coach Ross Giusti. “It made us realize we had a chance.”

Bonahoom had an RBI single in the third and Molini led off the fifth with his first homer of the year. Bauer’s RBI double cut it to 6-5 off Palatine starter Alex Miramontes but Eric Scheuermann came in and left the tying run at third with a strikeout.

Becker’s two-out RBI double in the sixth put Palatine up 7-5. Scheuermann got the first out of the seventh but Landwehr singled and Bauer doubled on 1-2 pitches to cut the deficit to a run.

After the first-base umpire ruled Kurt Donner’s short fly ball to right was dropped with the tying run at third, Brad Gerdes drilled a tying single to left. Scheuermann got out of that jam but an inning later Prospect was converging on Landwehr to start a wild celebration.

“There was no doubt in my mind that we knew we could do it,” Bauer said. “All it took was getting a few guys on base. It felt awesome.”

Bobbit’s two-out single in the eighth gave Palatine hope of joining the 1990 team as MSL champions. It was an out away from the 2006 title when it lost 3-2 to Elk Grove in 8 innings.

“We had great energy in the dugout and on the field,” Bobbit said. “They made good plays and we made some good plays and it was a heck of a game.

“We’re both good-hitting teams and there was some timely hitting for them. We were so close — two outs.”