Palatine maximizes upset opportunity of Hersey
Palatine maximized the opportunity and minimized the damage in Wednesday's Class 4A regional baseball semifinal against visiting Hersey.
Four of the Pirates' 5 runs in the third inning came on two-out homers by Jarrod Juskiewicz and Nick Roy against Hersey ace Mike Danielak. A big comeback attempt in the fourth was contained to 2 runs by ace Eric Scheuermann.
And the 14th-seeded Pirates stayed hot with a 6-2 upset of the fourth-seeded Mid-Suburban League champion Huskies.
"We had the pieces but we found ways to respond differently when things were going tough," said Palatine coach Paul Belo after his team reversed a 9-1 loss to Hersey near the end of a 9-17 start. "Now a big part of it is our senior leadership. They've done a great job of pulling the kids together."
The Pirates (17-19) are continuing a tradition of putting it together late in the season as they won for the eighth time in 10 games. They will try to win consecutive regional titles for the first time in school history at 10 a.m. Saturday when they host the winner of today's 4:30 p.m. semifinal between No. 5 Libertyville and No. 12 Prospect.
The matchup of Division I pitchers saw the Bradley-bound Scheuermann (5-5) and the Dartmouth-bound Danielak (8-2) each allow half of their 8 hits in one inning.
But the four in the Pirates' third sent the Huskies (25-11) reeling. Zach Serna doubled, Anthony Fortunato sacrificed and Scheuermann hit a sacrifice fly for what appeared to be a huge run.
Kurt Becker (3-for-3) singled and Scott Schneberger reached when a pitch in the dirt got away on one of Danielak's 8 strikeouts. Juskiewicz then yanked an 0-2 inside slider over the left-field fence for his fourth homer and a 4-0 lead.
"I just had to stay in the moment and fight," said the junior shortstop who came in hitting .160. "(Danielak) was pitching a great game I wanted to do anything I could to extend the inning.
"Off the bat I didn't know if it would go out but I hit it pretty solid and everyone erupted."
They erupted again on the next pitch.
"Knowing a pitcher of his status gave up a 3-run homer, I figured he would try to get ahead with a first-pitch fastball and that's what he did," Roy said of his blast to right-center. "Good things happened."
Hersey started its fourth with doubles by James Ioratti (2-for-3) and Sean Reszotko (2-for-3) and singles by Nick Nolan and Danielak. Serna made a nice play at third for a forceout and Scheuermann got 2 of his 8 strikeouts on sliders to end the threat with a 5-2 lead.
Scheuermann retired 11 of the last 12 hitters after a suggestion to use his slider more to get ahead in the count from pitching coach Frank Mariani.
"I had to stay within the moment and and I had the bottom of the order so I attacked them," said Scheuermann, who issued only 1 walk and threw 80 of his 116 pitches for strikes. "I felt throughout the game my breaking pitch was tighter and tighter and that helped out a lot."
Fortunato added an RBI single in the sixth and Roy provided the exclamation point when he made a diving catch on Tyler Perkowitz in right and fired to Becker at first for the upset-ending double play.
"We feel confident," Roy said, "and with confidence comes those types of plays."