Minooka stops Naperville Central
CHAMPAIGN — Naperville Central baseball coach Mike Stock could almost swear that his Redhawks were wearing Minooka uniforms in Monday’s Class 4A University of Illinois supersectional at Illini Field.
“(Minooka) looked the way we’ve looked for the last two weeks,” Stock said after his Redhawks saw their season come to an end with a 6-3 loss to the Indians. “They made every play and they looked the way we’ve looked the last five games.”
Coming off hurler Kevin Ruff’s perfect game and a 9-0 shutout of O’Fallon in last Saturday’s sectional championship game, Minooka took advantage of a leadoff error and a bunt single in the fourth inning to plate a pair of unearned runs. They then added the winning tallies with four more in the fifth to advance to this weekend’s state finals at Silver Cross Field in Joliet sporting a 27-13 record.
“We’ve saved our best baseball for the postseason,” said Minooka coach Jeff Petrovic. “Sometimes timing is everything, and our guys believed in themselves and they played really, really well.”
Minooka starting pitcher Josh Jiminez scattered 7 hits and struck out four in posting the mound victory.
His performance earned plaudits from Stock.
“Everything he throws moves, and he’s around the zone most of the time, but what we heard about him was that he could get a little wild,” Stock said. “Give him credit, he never did.”
Although Jiminez didn’t walk anyone, he did serve up a 3-2 changeup that knocked the helmet off of Naperville Central’s Nick Lopez to load the bases in the third inning.
Jiminez got out of that jam when a flyball crushed to deep centerfield by Naperville Central’s Ian Lewandowski was chased down and caught by Alex Bebar.
Given a 2-0 lead in the top of the fourth, Jiminez wasn’t as fortunate in the bottom half of the frame.
After the Redhawks’ Brian Schiemann bounced a one-out single up the middle, junior Cody Campbell pasted a 1-1 pitch over the right-center field fence to pull Naperville Central even.
“He left a curveball up and I just drove it opposite field,” Campbell said.
“My curveball was working, but it wasn’t the best I’ve had it,” Jiminez said. “The home run was just hanging. I left it way up and he just hit it out.”
Minooka scored its 4 fifth-inning runs by piecing together a single, a walk, a hit batsman and a pair of doubles to chase Lewandowski, the Redhawks’ starter. Reliever Jeff Schank set down Minooka in order in the final two innings.
Doubles by Naperville Central’s Jeff Lucas and Jimmy Nashert in the seventh accounted for the game’s final run.
The Redhawks ended the year at 27-13.