Baseball: Maine South outlasts Lane Tech in sectional game that ends after midnight
A berth to the championship game was on the line when No. 3-seeded Maine South faced No. 2 Lane Tech Wednesday night at the Class 4A Loyola baseball sectional semifinals.
The Hawks defeated the Champions 5-4 in eight innings in late April, and they proved that they were very good at playing late-night baseball with a 6-2 victory over Lane Tech (26-11) in a game that started at 9:40 p.m. and ended at 12:10 a.m.
Maine South (22-16) will face top-seeded New Trier (29-7-1) Saturday at 11 a.m. for the sectional crown. The Trevians defeated Glenbrook North 3-2 in the first semifinal game which didn't start until 6:15 p.m. due to wet field conditions from rain earlier in the day.
The Hawks jumped on starting pitcher Ronan Owens in the top of the first as Lewis University-bound Constantine Coines (1-for-1, 3 walks, 2 RBI, 1 run) walked, stole second, and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt.
Coines scored when sophomore Evan Adamczewski (2-for-4, home run, double, 2 runs) reached base on an error by the center fielder. Then a two-out double by Eric Fugate gave Maine South a 2-0 lead.
The Champions cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the third when Tyler Trapp led off with a walk off winning pitcher Connor Griffin (3 2/3 innings pitched) before scoring on a sacrifice fly by Jacob DeVinney.
A bases-loaded walk by Coines made the score 3-1 in the top of the fourth. Lane Tech's Connor Sullivan walked and eventually scored on a throwing error by Maine South to cut the lead to 3-2 after four innings.
But insurance runs were the name of the game for the Hawks as Adamczewski blasted a solo homer over the right field fence to lead off the top of the fifth.
"I'm extremely happy. This is the first time we've made it this far in a long time, and we just want to keep the ball rolling and get through these games one game at a time," said Adamczewski. "I knew I hit it (the home run), it was all barrel, and right off the bat I just knew it was out."
Maine South's Jack Etchason was impressive in relief of Griffin as he went the final 3 1/3 innings allowing no runs on no hits as the Champions only had 3 hits overall.
Coines drove in Alex Babich with an RBI single in the top of the sixth for a 5-2 lead. Adamczewski led off the seventh with a double before freshman pinch-runner Jack Guercio scored on a single by Luka Stojakovic for a 6-2 lead.
"They're playing real loose right now, that's kind of been a key, and I'm really happy with the way the boys are responding," said Maine South coach Brian Lorenz.
"Any time you can put runs on the board early it really helps out our pitching staff and our defense. Every time that Lane Tech was trying to answer back the very next inning we were able to score right away so that really helped us out."