Baseball: Stevenson rolls by Wheeling, will face Prospect for regional title

There was plenty of traffic around Stevenson Friday, delaying drivers on Illinois Route 22.

Their delay may have been longer if the drivers had pulled in to watch the Class 4A semifinal baseball game between Stevenson and Wheeling. Stevenson made quick work of Wheeling, winning 10-0 in 5 innings in a game that lasted just 1:07.

Stevenson (15-12-1), seeded sixth, will play at third-seeded Prospect on Monday at 4:30 p.m. Prospect beat Rolling Meadows 11-0 in 5 innings Friday.

"We have a young team that plays the game very hard," Stevenson coach Nick Skala said. "We have been learning the whole year. We are learning on the fly and we have great senior leadership."

The Patriots rattled off 10 hits in the four-plus innings, including 5 extra-base hits. Every batter in the Stevenson lineup reached base at least once.

"We can be dangerous in the future, but we can be real good right now," said Benji Ries, a senior who had a pair of doubles and drove in 2 runs. "For almost very player on this team this is their first year playing varsity baseball. This was a good test for us with this playoff atmosphere."

Stevenson broke the game open with a 6-run second inning, thanks to 5 hits including a trio of doubles. Ries, Owen Housinger and Jordan Skolmar each doubled that inning.

"Our energy was terrific " said Skolmar, whose double knocked in a pair of runs. "We thought our best game this year was against Libertyville and our energy was immaculate. We brought that out today."

Sophomore Michael Belbot belted a 2-run bomb, his first as a varsity player, in the third as the Patriots increased their lead to 8-0.

"It felt amazing," Belbot said. "I had a hit-and-run sign, so I was just trying to get it out there. It was right down the middle so I just hit it out."

The Patriots added on runs in each of the next two innings to put the game away.

Housinger had a sweet suicide squeeze to drive In Reis in the fourth. The Patriots then won it when they parlayed a pair of singles by Colin Schmitke and Trent Henderson along with a pair of Wheeling throwing errors for the final run and the victory.

"Hopefully we can make a little run here," Skala said. "We are playing some good baseball."

Stevenson also got fine pitching performances from starter Ethan Ge and reliever Daniel Cabrales. The duo combined to allow just 1 Wheeling hit and that was to the Wildcats' first batter of the game, Raymond Petzold.

"I threw ok, but I was leaving my fastball up," Ge said. "I knew that I would be coming out early once we got the lead. That was ok, because I want to be ready for Monday if needed."

Ge threw just 38 pitches and Cabrales threw 21 pitches. That will make both pitchers available for Monday's regional final.

"With the crazy IHSA scheduling, we have to find a way to maximize our pitching staff," Skala said. "We just want to make sure we can use all our assets."

It was a tough end to a good season for Wheeling (14-14).

"We would have liked to perform a lot better than we showed today," Wheeling coach Jason Wieder said. "We had decent season, but you never like to say goodbye to your seniors. They were a good group of kids and they really led by example."