Victorious Grayslake Central takes nothing for granted

Coaches can preach and preach and preach.

But sometimes it takes seeing for players to truly believe.

Consider the Grayslake Central baseball team a group of firm believers now.

On Friday, the Rams saw how not taking even a routine play for granted, something they hear over and over again at practice, can pay off.

“We tell our kids all the time not to give up on a play,” Grayslake Central coach Troy Whalen said.

And because the Rams didn’t, they were rewarded with a 4-3 walk-off win over Lakes in a Class 3A regional semifinal that was set up by 3 consecutive fielding errors.

Grayslake Central, which was the home team even though the game was played at Lakes, was down to its last out in the bottom of the seventh inning with the score tied at 3 runs apiece.

But the next two batters, Ryan Hamrick and Austin Miller, reached on fielding errors by the Eagles.

Jon Gurchak came up next for the Rams. He rifled a shot into the middle infield that was also fumbled. Lakes’ third consecutive error wound up scoring Hamrick from third base to give the Rams their first walk-off victory of the season.

Gurchak and Hamrick could have each assumed that Lakes would make the routine play and throw Gurchak out at first, forcing an eighth inning. But both sprinted the base paths as fast as they could and took full advantage of the fielding miscue.

Now, the Rams (24-10) will face Vernon Hills today for the Lakes regional championship.

“(The lesson is) to run as hard as you can,” Gurchak said. “I didn’t really hit that one right, but luckily I was able to run it out and force a bad throw to first.”

The bad throw meant nothing but good things for the Rams as Hamrick crossed home plate.

“I had the biggest smile that I’ve ever had in my life,” Hamrick said of his facial expression as he scored the winning run. “We had a rough game, but we worked hard all season. We got lucky here a little bit but that’s what happens when you work hard: you get opportunities and you get lucky.”

There was no luck involved in the pitching performance given by Grayslake Central senior Austin Leggett.

He rolled up 8 strikeouts and was particularly effective late, allowing Lakes no runs or hits over the final three innings.

“To me the difference was Austin Leggett,” Whalen said. “He just competed. The last three innings he was just lights out. That’s what you want from a competitor like that.”

Leggett runs his record on the mound to 8-4 on the season.

“I was jumping out of my seat (watching the bottom of the seventh),” Leggett said. “I didn’t want this game to be my last high school game. I was going out there to compete, I knew we were facing a really good pitcher and I wanted to play up to his level.”

Leggett certainly matched Nick Hibbing of Lakes stride for stride. Hibbing, who will be pitching at Iowa next year, allowed only 2 hits after a rocky second inning in which Grayslake Central scored its other 3 runs on 3 hits.

“It’s a feeling of being sad and upset and angry all at once,” said Hibbing, who finished 5-2 on the mound. “Both teams fought really hard and when you don’t win, you realize that’s the end of everything. That’s hard. Seeing something as special as high school end is hard.”

The Eagles wind up the season with a 20-14 record.

“This was really tough,” Lakes coach Ray Gialo said. “We knew they’re a real good team. To be there at 3-3 with them at the end was a spot we were hoping to be in. We missed a couple of chances to make plays. They made plays and that’s the way the game goes.

“When you have two good teams going at it, the difference is minimal and one or two mistakes can cost you the game, and today it did.”