Baseball: Willowbrook slips past Wheaton North in extra innings
Willowbrook's baseball team struggled to win two straight games throughout the regular season.
Now the Warriors are regional champions.
The inconsistencies are a distant memory after Willowbrook beat Wheaton North 8-5 in nine innings in Saturday's Class 4A Willowbrook regional final in Villa Park.
After Wheaton North (23-12) sent the game to extras with 2 runs in the bottom of the seventh, Mason Kamp's opposite-field single in the top of the ninth put the Warriors (19-14) ahead 6-5. Marshall McDonnell and Jack Hines added RBI singles to give Willowbrook some insurance.
The Falcons loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth, but Trevor Jaloszynski got out of the jam unscathed to secure the program's second straight regional title.
"That was the most intense game I've ever played in, definitely," Kamp said. "But we're good ballplayers. We just all came together and got through it."
A wild game saw several shifts in momentum.
Joe Klein's RBI single gave Wheaton North a 1-0 first-inning lead, Willowbrook scored twice in the top of the third and the Falcons tied it in the bottom of the inning on Sam Hacker's sacrifice fly.
Tyler Woltman's sacrifice fly put the Falcons ahead 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth, but the Warriors took advantage of a pair of seventh-inning errors and grabbed a 5-3 advantage on Dan Gusel's 3-run double.
In the bottom of the seventh, an odd play on a grounder allowed Wheaton North to score 2 runs and tie it at 5-5. Throws to second, first and home all were late.
"It was a frustrating day for us," said Falcons coach Dan Schoessling, whose team failed to score in three innings with the bases loaded. "We missed a few chances and you give Willowbrook credit. They beared down when we got those opportunities."
Both starting pitchers - Wheaton North's Jon Vesevick and Willowbrook's Jack Nilles - pitched well while going 7 innings.
Willowbrook faces Glenbard East, a 4-3 winner over York in the Elk Grove regional final, at 4:30 p.m. Thursday in the Bartlett sectional semifinals.
"We've battled all year," said Willowbrook coach Vic Wisner. "We had some big hits, some really timely hits."
Follow Kevin on Twitter