Baseball: Harvest-Westminster reaches 2A state championship game

Trailing Freeburg 4-0 after a half an inning, things did not look too promising for Harvest-Westminster’s baseball team Friday afternoon in the Class 2A state semifinals.

Fortunately for the Warrior-Lion, there was still plenty of baseball left.

Harvest-Westminster (28-7) quickly narrowed the deficit to 4-3 with 3 runs of its own in the bottom half of the opening frame, then grabbed the lead for good with 3 more runs in the third on the way to a 7-5 Class 2A state semifinal victory at University of Illinois Field in Champaign.

With the win, Harvest-Westminster advances to Saturday’s 2A state championship game at 7 p.m. against St. Joseph-Ogden (39-2).

Harvest-Westminster combined for the first time this season as one team and will begin its first school year as one school academically next fall.

Junior pitcher Ryan St. Louis earned the win, giving up 5 runs (only 2 earned) on 6 hits in 5 1/3 innings with a walk and 6 strikeouts.

The first 5 batters reached base in the opening inning as Harvest-Westminster began its comeback.

Brennan O’Donnell walked before Elias Vaagen’s single put 2 runners on for Thomas Neubert, whose RBI single to center closed the gap to 4-1.

St. Louis followed with an RBI double to right, and Luke Bartolome’s run-producing single to center made it 4-3.

After St. Louis held the Midgets (28-10) scoreless the next 2 innings, Harvest-Westminster pushed 3 more runs across in the bottom of the third.

Following Jameson Rapinchuk’s game-tying RBI single, an infield error loaded the bases for senior Brian Powers, who laced a single to left, sending Bartolome across with the go-ahead run.

Sam Dries added another RBI single to left a few moments later, as Harvest-Westminster took a 6-4 lead.

Harvest-Westminster added an insurance tally in the fourth on Rapinchuk’s RBI line single to right before Jonathan Barlow’s sacrifice fly in the fifth enabled Freeburg to close within 7-5.

After a scoreless sixth, Neubert struck out cleanup hitter Cole Miller and No. 5 batter Dane Johnson to start the seventh before allowing a 2-out double to Barlow.

The junior then retired Chase Juenger on a groundball to record the save and send Harvest-Westminster into Saturday’s state title contest.

Offensive leaders for Harvest-Westminster included Bartolome (2 for 3, RBI, walk, run scored), Rapinchuk (2 for 4, 2 RBI, run scored), Neubert (2 for 4, RBI), St. Louis (1 for 2, RBI, walk), Powers (1 for 3, RBI), and Dries (1 for 3, RBI).

Johnson paced Freeburg with a pair of hits, including a triple, and 2 RBI.

Westminster Christian captured the Class 1A state baseball title in 2010, while Harvest Christian placed fourth in the 1A state tournament in 2019.