Magical ride continues for Schaumburg

There really is not much mystery as to why the magical farewell tour is continuing for retiring Schaumburg baseball coach Paul Groot.

It was all on display by the Saxons in Wednesday night's Class 4A Schaumburg sectional semifinal against St. Charles East at the Schaumburg Boomers' Stadium.

The gutsy pitching of Max Paolicchi and Matt Brancato was supported by solid defense. Timely hitting combined with smart baserunning and good execution produced enough offense.

And it all added up to the 10th-seeded Saxons pulling their third straight postseason upset with a 4-1 victory over the third-seeded Saints.

“We've been on a roll,” said Brancato, who scored the go-ahead run in the fifth inning and got the final five outs for his third save. “What's made the difference is every single kid in the lineup has done the little things.”

Which has the Saxons (24-13), who have won 11 of their last 12, looking for a big sectional prize for the fifth time and first since 2005 at 11 a.m. Saturday at the Boomers' stadium. They'll play No. 13 Willowbrook (23-15), which won its eighth straight game 3-1 over Bartlett in Wednesday's first semifinal to reach a sectional title game for the first time since 1973.

“It's exciting,” Groot said as his 28th and final year in charge of the Saxons continues. “It starts on the mound and we knew they might struggle with a breaking-ball kid (Paolicchi). Max has been our guy and the most consistent pitcher we've had all year.”

Paolicchi (6-3) allowed 5 hits in 5 innings and had 5 strikeouts and 2 walks. St. Charles East (25-11) got its lone run in the third on a double by Nick Erickson (2-for-4), Jordan Hayes' sacrifice and Joe Hoscheit's sacrifice fly.

“He's been great for us all year long,” said Schaumburg second baseman Joe Petritis. “Every time he's on the mound we feel comfortable.”

Even if the crafty junior left-hander didn't necessarily feel that way.

“I always get through the first two-three innings being really nervous and then I settle down,” Paolicchi said. “I trusted my defense the entire time.”

The Saxons' offense finally started breaking through in the fourth after Saints' lefty Kyle Manske had 5 strikeouts the first 3 innings. One-out singles by Jack Holden and Pat Bellinger set up Petritis' tying two-out double to left-center.

Petritis, a junior who took over at second base three weeks ago, singled and scored in the sixth on Kedric Daly's sacrifice and Thomas Byrne's RBI single. He also handled 6 chances — including a hard grounder for the final out of the sixth with the tying runs on base.

“I took advantage of my chance,” Petritis said. “My hitting has been on and off but today I came through big and I was glad I could do it for the team.”

Two baserunning plays were pivotal in the fifth. Brancato walked with one out and went to third on Colin Bethran's double to left-center.

With the Saints infield up and third baseman Luke Ludke in for a possible squeeze bunt, Brancato got a big enough lead to race home on a contact play on Holden's grounder.

“Coach Groot and I discussed what might happen before the play was going to happen,” Brancato said. “He told me to go on contact. When I didn't hear him yell ‘rundown,' I went straight in.”

Erickson singled and stole second with two outs in the bottom of the fifth. John Hondlik beat the throw to first on Byrne's diving stop of a grounder up the middle.

But Erickson couldn't outrun the throw home from Bellinger to Jeremy Hall to prevent the tying run.

“It changes the momentum a little bit on both sides,” said Saints coach Len Asquini. “It's a gamble and obviously you're rolling some dice to see if you can push a run across.

“We were having a tough time pushing the ball and doing something with runners in scoring position. It was an opportunity to maybe sneak in a run but that was the tale of the game. They executed offensively and we didn't.”

Ludke had a pair of doubles and Hayes had one for the Saints but never moved any further. The Saxons added their final run in the seventh as singles by Brancato and Holden in the seventh led to Bellinger serving an RBI groundout to second base.

Brancato finished it off by grabbing a popup and getting his second strikeout.

“Pitching and defense are what got us here,” Petritis said. “We have to keep it up.”