Walther surprises Aurora Christian

Aurora Christian baseball coach Andy Zorger could only think of “probabaly one all year, maybe two” home runs staff ace Bobby Kutzendorf allowed this season.

Walther Lutheran hit 3 home runs Saturday morning at Benedictine University in Lisle to defeat the Eagles 5-4 for the Class 2A sectional championship.

“We were expecting a good outing, and it was a good outing,” Zorger said. “Overall he gave up, what? Four or five hits? Three of them just happen to be long ones. They just executed, really. They got the big hits, and we just came up a little short. They made some great plays in the outfield, and credit to them for getting it done.”

Aurora Christian connected for 6 hits, with senior Brent Minta’s double the only extra-base hit. Junior Kenny McCracken hit a 2-run single in the Eagles’ 3-run third inning.

“We hit the ball hard,” Zorger said. “The wind held up a couple in the outfield. If the wind’s blowing out it’s a different game.”

Dan Lodalce, Josh Galvan and Chris Stevens each homered for Walther Lutheran, with Lodalce’s seventh-inning solo shot the game-winning run. He also was the winning pitcher in relief.

Kutzendorf, a junior who entered the game with an ERA below 1.00, finished the season 9-1.

“He’d been great all year,” Zorger said. “He battled. He didn’t quite have command of the curveball, I think, and that kind of hurt him. They were able to sit on a couple of fastballs, and they didn’t miss them.”

The Eagles were 29-7.

“One game, anything can happen, and they just got a couple of more breaks than we got today,” Zorger said. “We play a three-game series, I’m pretty sure we’re going to find a way to get it done, but that’s not how it works.”