Baseball: Crystal Lake South can’t get clutch hits, falls in 3A state semifinals
Getting guys on base was not an issue for Crystal Lake South’s baseball team Friday afternoon.
Getting guys across the plate was the problem.
The Gators (29-10) saw their Class 3A state championship hopes slip away following a 2-0 state semifinal loss to Triad (36-5) at Joliet’s Slammers Stadium.
Despite the leadoff man reaching base in 5 of the 7 innings, the Gators were blanked for just the second time all season (5-0 loss to McHenry on April 13), as Triad senior right-hander Nolan Keller (11-1) pitched a complete game.
“I thought he (Keller) did a nice job of throwing strikes — he didn’t walk too many guys (1),” said Gators coach Brian Bogda. “We just didn’t have the timely hit. We didn’t have the 2-out hit or the clutch hit, and that was the difference in the game.”
“Up and down, I thought we had good approaches,” said Bogda, whose team finished with 9 hits but stranded 9 baserunners. “We hit the ball hard. Nick (Stowasser) hit that one ball 390 feet (to center for the third out with runners on first and second in the third). It would be out (for a home run) at most parks.
“I’m not disappointed with our effort at all.”
After Triad grabbed a 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the fourth off senior starting pitcher Devin DeLoach, Crystal Lake South staged a 2-out threat in its half of the frame.
Back-to-back singles from Johnathan Morgan and Michael Rathjen put runners at first and second for designated hitter Ryan Morgan, who hit a grounder toward the middle of the diamond.
When Triad second baseman Kody Anderson’s ill-advised, backhand glove flip sailed over the head of shortstop Kannon Seipp, courtesy runner Reed Mitchell rounded third and was thrown out at home to end the inning.
“I ran us out of the one inning — I take ownership for that,” said Bogda, the Gators’ third-base coach. “It was a strange play. He (Anderson) flubbed it and tried to flip it with his glove but recovered the ball faster than I thought. We typically play aggressively on the bases, but the read was wrong. It was totally my fault.”
“Once he picked it up, I thought as long as he didn’t panic, he had a pretty good margin to make the throw and get the out,” said Triad coach Jesse Bugger, whose team will face St. Rita in Saturday’s 1 p.m. state championship game.
“I wasn’t really thrilled with the glove play at first.”
NIU-bound DeLoach kept his team in the game, tossing 6 2/3 innings of 5-hit ball with 7 strikeouts on 107 pitches before junior reliever Tanner Maurer retired the final out in the seventh.
“Coming back in the fifth and sixth, I was super determined to keep going out there,” said DeLoach, who retired the last 9 batters he faced.
“He gave us a chance to win,” said Bogda. “It was one of his better efforts of the year against a good offense.”
Junior shortstop Carson Trivellini went 3 for 4 with a double for the Gators, who face East Peoria in Saturday’s 10 a.m. third-place game.
“There’s some goals still on the table,” said the coach. “We would like to get to 30 wins and try to bring home a third-place trophy.”