Larkin comes back to beat Elgin again
A bad bounce was quite good for the Larkin baseball team Wednesday.
Tyler Kalusa hit a potential game-ending double play ground play toward short with the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth. But the ball hit the lip of the infield grass and hopped over Elgin shortstop Andrew Higdon’s head bringing in a pair of runs for a walk off 4-3 victory on Elgin’s west side.
“I was just exhilarated,” said Kalusa, a sophomore. “Just seeing the looks on my teammates faces made me happy.”
Larkin (11-21, 8-16) has won the first two games of the series and goes for the sweep of its crosstown rival at 6 p.m. today at Trout Park.
The Maroons (11-22, 5-19) held a 2-0 lead heading into the bottom of the seventh. Larkin’s Peter Lennard led with a single. After a popout, Niko Morado singled to put runners on first and second. Pinch-hitter William Rodriguez sacrificed the runners to second and third. Nate Young followed with a 2-run single to right to tie the game at 2-2.
“Willy’s bunt in the seventh was huge,” Larkin senior Drew Shore said. “Came off the bench and put it down.”
Elgin retook the lead in the top of the eighth on a single to left from Derek Strohmaier.
In the bottom of the eighth, Shore had a one-out single. Christopher Guzeman had a bunt single. With Lennard up, a wild pitch got away, but not very far. Elgin catcher Gage Teschner threw to third and the throw beat Shore to the base, but Shore managed to avoid the tag.
“We’ve had our fair share (of bad losses) this year. That’s right up there,” Elgin coach David Foerster said. “That’s the way the ball bounces I guess. It hasn’t bounced our way much this year.”
After Lennard walked to load the bases, Kalusa had the fortunate game-winning hit. The Royals were just 2-for-11 with runners in scoring position, but got the clutch hits from Young and Kalusa when they needed them.
“It’s a testament to our guys,” Royals coach Matt Esterino said. “There were games where we had similar situations and struck out. We told them after the game that no matter the result we hit the ball for the most part, with two outs we were hitting it at them.”
Guzeman (1-3) earned the victory in relief. The right-hander went 41⁄3 innings, allowing 3 hits and 2 runs. He walked 3 and struck out 1.
Kiko Mari (2-2) came in relief of Eric Daly, who went 62⁄3 innings, after Young’s game-tying hit in the seventh and suffered the loss. The Maroons left 13 runners on base.