Dundee-Crown comeback stuns Schaumburg
It was the break the Dundee-Crown baseball team needed, one Schaumburg later regretted.
The Saxons held a 3-run lead entering the bottom of the seventh inning of Thursday’s nonconference game in Carpentersville, but a high throw from shortstop allowed D-C No. 9 hitter Garrett Ryan to reach base on a close play to open the inning.
Then the floodgates opened.
D-C leadoff man Jake Romano subsequently drew a walk, and Kyle Bernhard, Dylan Kissack and Ryan Suwanski smacked consecutive singles as the Chargers scored 4 runs in their final at-bat to post a stunning 6-5 victory.
“Comeback team,” barked D-C catcher Dylan Kissack, who scored the game-winning run on a hook slide to beat a relay throw. “Second day in a row.”
Dundee-Crown (2-0-1) twice rallied from 4-run deficits Wednesday against Hoffman Estates, though that game finished in an 8-8 tie due to darkness.
The starting pitcher for Schaumburg (1-2), junior Max Paolicchi, kept the Chargers under wraps until the seventh. The left-hander allowed only 2 runs on 7 hits through 6 innings.
However, Ryan reached base to open the seventh when the shortstop’s high throw forced the first baseman to jump. Schaumburg coach Paul Groot, a 28-year veteran set to retire at the end of the season, argued to no avail that his first baseman had come down on the bag before Ryan crossed.
“You missed it,” he told the base umpire.
“It all started with Garrett beating out that groundball because that sparks everything and perks everyone up,” said first-year D-C coach Timmy Parisi, who played high school baseball for Conant against Groot’s teams.
“It was a bang bang play,” Groot said later. “But that’s a play we’ve got to make. The throw was high and that opened the door.”
Romano, a lefty, drew a walk. That brought up lefty hitter Kyle Bernhard. Though he was hitless in 3 at-bats against Paolicchi, Bernhard managed to pull a chopper through the first-base hole, which scored Ryan.
That closed the gap to 5-3 and signaled the end for Paolicchi. He was relieved by hard-throwing 6-foot-5 senior Paul Bellinger.
Dundee-Crown No. 3 hitter Dylan Kissack and Bellinger immediately battled. After falling behind 0-2, Kissack fouled off 2 fastballs, took a curve in the dirt, then fouled off 2 more fastballs before he got one he liked. The three-year varsity starter sent a sharp single into right field, scoring Romano to make it a 5-4 game.
“Their guy fouled off a lot of good pitches,” Groot said. “Great at-bat there.”
“Once I got 2 strikes I was pretty much just fighting it off because I knew we had guys in scoring position,” Kissack said. “I was just trying to put it in play and make something happen.”
Cleanup hitter Ryan Suwanski followed by lacing an 0-1 fastball past the diving shortstop into left field. Bernhard scored easily to tie the game as Kissack raced around third. His hook slide narrowly avoided the tag of Schaumburg catcher Brayden Teele, who was fed a solid relay throw from third baseman Matt Brancato.
“(Bellinger) threw pretty fast, but there were no outs so I was calm,” said Suwanski, who went 3-for-3 with a double, a walk, scored a run and drove in a pair. “It’s the greatest feeling in the world. I can’t describe it. I’ve never had a game like that before. To just be calm and to win it is just a great feeling.”
D-C left-hander Nick Lodi (1-0) earned the win in relief of Erik Brewer, who was victimized by bad defense. Lodi held the Saxons to 1 hit in 2 scoreless innings. Brewer allowed 5 runs (1 earned) on 7 hits in 5 innings, but was undercut by 4 D-C errors, including one of his own making.
“We just have to eliminate some errors,” Kissack said of what was once a 5-0 deficit. “Hopefully, we wont have to come back like that anymore.”
Justin Charvat went 2-for-4, Teele, singled and drove in a run, and Josh Ragona singled and drove in 2 runs for Schaumburg.
Romano went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, and drove in a run, and Kissack finished 2-for-4 with a run driven in for Dundee-Crown.