Baseball: Palatine rallies from 5 down, beats Hersey in extra innings
Palatine coach Paul Belo knows after 25 years as a head coach, that in baseball no deficit is too large to overcome.
Belo made sure he let his Pirates know just that after his team fell behind Hersey 5-0 in the bottom of the second at Palatine Friday.
“These kids believe we have a type of offense that we can do some things with,” said Belo, who will retire at the end of the season.
“As long as we stay disciplined with the pitches that we are working with, we have a chance to move runners. And we got big hits when we needed it.”
And like a soothsayer, Belo’s group found a way to rally as Sean Wasserman’s infield single drove in Carter Monroe for an 8-7 walkoff win in 9 innings over Hersey.
“With two strikes I was just looking to put the ball in play,” said Wasserman, whose two out single in the bottom of the seventh drove in Monroe to send the game into extra innings.
“If you put the ball in play, there is always a chance. A win is a win, it’s nice for me it is for us.”
With the Palatine win, things have really tightened in both divisions of the Mid Suburban League.
Palatine (12-13, 9-3), which has now won six in a row and 9 of their last 11 remained tied for first in the MSL with Barrington. The Broncos beat Rolling Meadows 4-2.
Conant, which plays Palatine next Monday and Wednesday, fell a game back in the West standings after their 5-4 loss to Wheeling.
In the East, Hersey’s lead over Prospect and Buffalo Grove has shrunk to one game. Prospect knocked of Schaumburg 4-3 and Buffalo Grove edged Fremd 5-4 in 9 innings. Hersey plays Prospect next Monday and Wednesday.
Hersey looked golden early on.
The Huskies batted around in the first, scoring four runs on four hits, all of which were hit hard. Will Hickey had an RBI double, Brandon Pflomm an RBI single, Diego Garcia an RBI double and Keegan Luxem an RBI single.
Hersey added another run in their next at-bat. Drew Phillips, who singled to lead off the inning, scored on Pflomm’s groundout to make it 5-0.
Palatine came roaring back to plate five runs in their half of the inning to tie the game. The Pirates scored when Ian Sherman drove in a run on an infield error and Jett Greiwe drove in another when he was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.
Monroe then followed with a long base-clearing double and suddenly the game was all knotted up at 5-5.
“We have been in this situation before,” said Monroe, who had three hits on the day,. “Kudos to the guys ahead of me getting on. I was just sticking to my approach. Doing what the coaches teach and what I know what to do.”
Hersey then scored a run in each of the next two innings. Evan Fahey drove in one of the runs on a fielder’s choice and Phillips scored his third run of the day on a wild pitch to put the Huskies up 7-5.
Palatine got one of those runs back in the bottom of the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Greiwe that scored Jack Houser.
Belo credited Palatine starter David Oddo, for going all 7 innings and keeping the Huskies off the board in the final three innings.
“He was trying to fit pitches in and not getting a good release early,” Belo said.
Hersey coach Wally Brownley said his team needs to keep the pressure on their opponents.
“I liked our approach early,” Brownley said. “But that has kind of been our M.O. We kind of step off the gas sometimes. We have to do a better job of staying on it.”