Marmion feels snakebit again
There’s many worse things in the world than being compared to a baseball dynasty that won 14 straight National League East titles but only one World Series in that stretch.
“I am starting to feel like the Atlanta Braves,” said Marmion coach Dave Rakow after his Cadets lost 6-3 to Kaneland on Saturday in the Class 3A Rochelle sectional championship game.
Saturday’s loss is the third time in four years the Cadets have lost in the sectional championship game.
Last year it was DeKalb who tripped up Marmion one game short of its first sectional title, and a group of seniors led by Tim Tarter, Jordan Meyer and Tyler Friel were back at it Saturday hoping to see Marmion break through.
“It hurts to lose in this game,” Rakow said. “We wanted to win it. They were in this game last year so they felt like they knew what they needed to do to win it. Unfortunately it just wasn’t our day today.”
Marmion didn’t hit the ball that well in either sectional game it played this week, scoring 2 runs on Thursday against Rochelle.
“We hit a few more flyballs than we wanted to, but we faced a really good pitcher (Bobby Thorson),” Rakow said. “You have to give him some credit too. You have to tip your hat to him.”
Friel took the loss, allowing 5 runs in his 4 innings.
“Tyler’s pattern has been he gets stronger as the game goes on,” Rakow said. “He didn’t start out the way he wanted to and we were kind of waiting for him to get it going. It didn’t happen today.”
Friel was one of seven seniors on Marmion’s roster. The group has plenty to be proud of including a 21-win season, and back-to-back regional and conference championships.
“It’s pretty rare for a group of guys to come to the Sweet 16 like this in back-to-back years,” Rakow said. “Back-to-back 20-win seasons, back-to-back conference championships, they don’t have a lot to hang their head about. It stings right now but in the long run I think they’ll realize they were part of something special.”
The future looks bright, too. Seven juniors started Saturday — second baseman Mitch Sterne, catcher Kyle Kozak, center fielder A.J. Friedman, shortstop Andy Young, first baseman Chris Simon, right fielder Mike Pipp and third baseman Connor Meternach.
Simon pitched the final 3 innings, struck out three, walked none and allowed 1 run.
“We all felt confident coming in. We’ll just have to get it next year,” said Kozak.
“Chris came in and looked great. His changeup looked really good keeping them off-balance. We’re excited to have him back next year.”