Burlington Central finds power stroke in the nick of time
Burlington Central muscled up to win a baseball regional championship Monday.
The Rockets entered the playoffs with a total of 25 home runs in 28 regular-season games, but they launched 3 longballs for the second straight postseason game and beat Kaneland 6-5 for the Class 3A Burlington Central regional title.
Tanner Scott's 2-run shot in the third inning, a solo home run by Bill Rodriguez in the fourth and a 3-run, tiebreaking poke by Austin Jarvis in the fifth - all backed by a stiff wind blowing out to right-center field - accounted for the 6 Central runs.
"We had a couple of pitches that were not in the right spot, and Burlington made us pay for it," Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said. "We knew coming in that they were a great hitting team. We just came up a little short."
All the Rockets' runs in Saturday's 4-1 semifinal victory over Sycamore also came courtesy of home runs by Jarvis, Scott and Nick Hahn.
"I think it's just a matter of a young team seeing more pitching throughout the year and adjusting to varsity pitching," Central coach Kyle Nelson said of the late power surge. "We only had a couple of guys going into the season who'd seen varsity pitching before. They're starting to get used to what it's like to hit at the varsity level."
The regional baseball title is the fourth for the Rockets, their first since winning a Class AA regional title in 2006. Burlington Central (24-6) advances to the Rochelle sectional for a semifinal game against Rock Island (25-12) on Thursday at 4 p.m.
"It feels amazing right now," said Hahn (11-0), who pitched a complete game and broke the school record for victories in a season. "We've got a good team. We came out and showed that we can play with the best teams in the area."
In the bottom of the fifth, Kaneland (23-13) responded to Jarvis' 3-run home run with a 2-run homer by left fielder Jay Levita to pull within 6-5. It was the senior's second longball of the day and fourth of the season.
Kaneland brought the winning run to the plate in the seventh. Joe Gura drew a one-out walk from Hahn, but cleanup hitter Mike Pritchard bounced into a season-ending double play.
It was a tough way to end for a Kaneland team that blew away the previous school record of 19 victories in a season.
"This team here is pretty special, but that team right there," Aversa said as he nodded toward the Central dugout, "kept us at bay today. Hats off to that pitcher."
Levita put the Knights ahead 1-0 in the first inning with a solo shot to left.
Central took a 2-1 lead in the top of the third inning when Scott, a freshman, drove in Sam Klein with a 2-run blast. The home run was Scott's ninth of the season, tying the Central single-season record set by Dan Sheldon in 2001.
"I didn't know I had tied the record until after the game," Scott said. "I just try to put the ball in play."
Kaneland regained a 3-2 lead in the third. Starting pitcher Jeff Smith scored from third on a wild pitch and Jake Fiedler (2 doubles) scored on Gura's groundout.
The Rockets tied the game in the fourth on the solo home run by Rodriquez.
The score was tied 3-3 in the fifth inning until Jarvis lined a 3-1 fastball the opposite way over the fence in right-center field.
"I was just looking to get a (sacrifice) fly to the outfield," said Jarvis, who also doubled. "He left it up and I drove it. It was where the ball was pitched. I just tried to go with it and it carried out there."