Marmion hangs on when darkness halts West Aurora's rally

West Aurora leadoff hitter D.J. Smith with a strikeout away from a golden sombrero in the top of the seventh inning when he delivered what appeared to be a go-ahead RBI single, perhaps even a 2-run single.

The problem was that in the midst of the play, the base umpire ruled the play dead. After he convened with the home plate umpire the game was called due to darkness.

"For D.J. he's been scuffling a little with the bat," West Aurora coach John Reeves said. "It was good to see him get a base-knock at the end there in a key situation. Obviously it got erased. Hopefully he can continue that a number of times this season."

Because Marmion had led 8-7 entering the top of the seventh inning, nothing the Blackhawks did in the inning counted and the game was retracted back to the end of the sixth inning, allowing the Cadets to escape with an 8-7 victory.

"It's a new one for me," Marmion coach Dave Rakow said. "It's the first time in my career because I've never seen it in my life."

"Obviously it's the right thing for the kids' safety to end the ballgame now," Reeves said. "But in terms of the way it was handled I'll just stay quiet on that one."

Marmion (1-0) had controlled the game behind junior pitcher Matt Milroy until the top of the sixth inning when things fell apart for the Cadets defensively.

Milroy was very good in his varsity pitching debut. He was touched for a pair of runs in the third inning, but in his five innings of work he walked none and fanned 9, including five of the first six he faced.

In the top of the sixth, against reliever Matt McHugh, back-to-back pinch hitters Mark White and Jeff Etter delivered RBI singles to knot the score at 4-4. After a pitching change, the Blackhawks plated the go-ahead run on a wild pitch and then tacked on two more runs on a dropped pop up in the infield.

West Aurora (1-1) and reliever Brandon Lawrence couldn't hold onto the lead though, as Marmion rallied in the bottom of the sixth inning.

McHugh's RBI single made it a 7-5 ballgame and a 2-run single by first baseman Tim Milroy made it a 7-7 contest.

"It was big for us to come back," Rakow said. "Tim came through real big for us and it's a real confidence builder that we can come back against a team like this."

The game-winning hit came off the bat of second baseman Robert Reder who followed Milroy's hit with a clutch hit of his own, an RBI single down the left field line.

Reder finished the afternoon with a 4-for-4 effort and 3 RBI.

"We call Robert our professional hitter," Rakow said. "He makes contact, always has and always will. He's a senior leader on the team and someone we can count on to come through."