Braheny a hit for Saxons

There haven't been many Casey Braheny at-the-bat stories during his season-plus as a Schaumburg varsity baseball player.

But the senior left fielder came through with one that was mighty memorable against Jacobs in Saturday's semifinal of the eighth annual Schaumburg Flyers High School Baseball Classic at Alexian Field.

Braheny, a left-handed No. 9 hitter used primarily for defensive purposes last year, ripped a tie-breaking triple to right-center in the top of the seventh inning as the Saxons (3-0) came back and then held on for a 9-8 victory.

"I've been waiting for a hit like that for four years," Braheny said with a smile moments before he received a celebratory ice-water dousing. "I saw it go in the gap and I was hauling."

Schaumburg will play Joliet Catholic, which beat Lyons 17-14 in the other semifinal, for the tourney title.

That game will be played in a few weeks as tournament director John Sarna opted to play the third-place game Saturday night -- which xxxx won x-x over xxxxx.

Jacobs finished its suspended opener Saturday morning by beating Wheaton Warrenville South 5-2. Ryan Lesner got out of a bases-loaded jam and Matt Igara hit a 2-run homer.

The Golden Eagles kept the momentum going by taking a 4-1 lead in the first and a 7-4 lead after 5 innings on an RBI single by Bobby Molinaro (4-for-5). But the deficit didn't worry the Saxons.

"We've got some big bats in the lineup," said junior Mike Mistrata, who was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 4 RBI.

"We're never out of the game," said Schaumburg coach Paul Groot. "That's what I said coming into the sixth inning. I said, 'We've got a heck of an offense and 3 runs isn't a big deal."

Jacobs senior righty Mike Castillo had allowed only 4 hits and got two groundouts to start the sixth. Steve Mahler (2-for-3) got an infield single and Dominick D'Agata walked to bring up Mistrata.

"He did well … and kept them off-balance for the most part," said Jacobs coach Eric Sanders. "He was near his pitch count, but when I went out there he looked me straight in the eye and said, 'I can get him, I want him.'"

But the lefty-hitting Mistrata boomed a 2-run double off the base of the fence 390 feet away in right-center. George Kalousek followed with a tying RBI single and retired Jacobs in order in the bottom of the sixth.

Kyle Pusateri's leadoff single and shortstop Dave Compitello's sacrifice set up Braheny's triple.

"I was hitting pretty bad my first 2 at-bats," said Braheny, who scored on Mahler's perfect suicide squeeze bunt, "but my teammates got me up and got me going."

Molinaro's two-out RBI single got Jacobs within a run with the tying run at second. But it ended with Compitello making the last of a bunch of backhanded plays in the hole on Igara's grounder.

"We were competing," Sanders said. "I couldn't be happier with the way we hit the ball."