Glenbrook North stops Leyden

There would be no dramatic rally for Leyden on this day.

At Wednesday’s Class 4A sectional semifinal, the Eagles came back from 5 runs down to score six in the sixth inning and defeat New Trier 9-8 to earn a chance to play for the championship.

But second-seeded Glenbrook North’s bats proved too much for top-seeded Leyden on Saturday as the Spartans rapped out 19 hits to defeat the Eagles 15-6 and claim the Glenbrook South sectional title in Glenview.

Jack Day, Brett Synek and Ryan Slawin each banged out 4 hits apiece for the Spartans (33-3), who will play Prospect at 4:30 p.m. Monday in the Rockford RiverHawks supersectional. Leyden (28-6) senior Justin Stawychny had a homer, double, single and 4 runs batted in.

“It’s hard to explain what happened out there,” said Leyden coach Gary Wolf. “We had played 34 games this year and we’ve been close to perfect in almost every one of them, but today we didn’t make the plays we usually make.”

Leyden grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first when John Marino drove in Eli Perez from third base with an infield single, but Stawychny was thrown out at the plate trying to score from second on the play to end the inning.

Glenbrook North propmptly responded with a 7-run outburst in the second off Leyden starter Eric Palmer, who was the winner in relief Wednesday.

The Spartans put the game away with 4 runs in the third inning and 3 in the fourth. The Eagles used 4 pitchers but to no avail as none could slow down the Glenbrook North attack.

Leyden trailed by 10 runs with two outs in the bottom of the fifth and was down to its last strike when Stawychny’s long home run over the 380-foot sign in center gave the Eagles a reprieve.

Glenbrook North’s Slawin blasted a homer of his own in the top of the seventh. Leyden threatened in the bottom of the frame but could plate only one run.

Palmer smacked an RBI double for the Eagles, who struck in 10 times against Glenbrook North winning pitcher Alex Hermeling.

“You have to give Glenbrook North credit,” said Wolf. “They’ve won over 30 games this year for a reason. They played well, but I’m disappointed that we didn’t show them — and our fans — our best.

“We know that Hermeling is a Division 1 pitcher, but we still thought we could get 5 of 6 runs — we just didn’t expect to give up 15.”