Baseball: Stojakovic plays hero role in Maine South’s sectional championship
Both teams were looking for a hero Saturday afternoon when No. 3-seeded Maine South faced No. 1 New Trier in the Class 4A Loyola baseball sectional championship game.
The scoreboard ran out of innings as the contest moved into the 11th inning deadlocked at 1-1, and it was Maine South junior Luka Stojakovic that came through with a two-out single to drive in Alex Babich with the game-winning hit.
The Hawks (23-16) added two insurance runs on a huge 2-run double to right-center by Eric Fugate to capture a 4-1 victory over the Trevians (28-8-1) as closer Jake Zabratanski went the final 4 2/3 innings on the mound to pick up the win.
Maine South will face Libertyville (33-4) in the Schaumburg supersectional Monday at 7:30 p.m. at Wintrust Field with a berth to the state tournament in Joliet at stake.
Hawks junior starter Jack Gianikos was sharp in allowing no earned runs on 3 hits with 8 strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings. Zabratanski struck out Jake Bentivenga with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings.
No. 9-hitter Alex Babich walked off losing pitcher Nick Bailey to open the top of the 11th before moving to second on a sacrifice bunt by Constantine Coines. Evan Adamczewski was intentionally walked to put runners on first and second before Stojakovic singled off the shortstop's glove to drive in the winning run. Then Fugate drilled his double off lefty Justin Rausch to score Adamczewski and pinch-runner Arjun Sreenivasan for the 4-1 lead.
"I knew he (Bailey) was probably going to give me an off-speed. I had been seeing a lot this game, he threw me one and I hit it hard on the ground which is what we preach all season and it works as coach (Brian Lorenz) says," said Stojakovic. "When our pitchers are on and they're attacking guys it makes my job so easy to call the game and it's just amazing to be back there for them."
After an unearned run by New Trier in the bottom of the first, the Hawks tied the game in the top of the fifth when Fugate led off with a walk and freshman pinch-runner Jack Guercio moved from first to third on a sacrifice bunt by Cole Mutchler. Senior Joe Mule's sacrifice fly to right field drove in Guercio with the tying run.
"That was pretty amazing,“ said Lorenz, whose team won the third sectional crown in school history. ”We gave them one run in the first and you're talking about 10 innings of just shutting the New Trier offense down. There were plenty of times where they were threatening and our pitchers did a heck of a job right there so I have to tip my cap to them,.
"He (Gianikos) had Tommy John surgery this time last year in May and I wasn't going to let anybody in the conference see him to get a leg up on him. So he did a great job, he did exactly what he was supposed to do, and this plan has been in the works for awhile."
Maine South went 2-2 against the Trevians this season while it lost to Libertyville 5-4 on April 5. Adamczewski was 2-for-4 with a double and a walk while a bad-hop double by Trey Meyers in the bottom of the seventh was New Trier's only extra-base hit.
"They (Gianikos and Zabratanski) were getting ahead in the count and really just challenging our guys so they were hard to hit," said New Trier coach Dusty Napoleon, whose team was outhit 7-4. "We had opportunities throughout the whole game, but I give Maine South credit, they're really talented and they just beat us today."