Marmion's 8-run 4th sinks Oswego
Marmion baseball continues to accomplish things the program has never done before.
A week after becoming the first team in school history to win back-to-back conference championships, the Cadets became the first squad to win conference and regional titles in the same season.
Marmion did that with a slight upset Saturday. The second-seeded Cadets used an 8-run fourth inning for a 10-8 victory over regional host and No. 1 seed Oswego.
Marmion (21-11), which has never won a sectional title, will try for more history next week at the Class 3A DeKalb sectional, starting Thursday against 32-2 Burlington Central.
"It's a huge accomplishment for our team," said winning pitcher and St. Xavier basketball recruit Mark Peters.
The 6-foot-6 lefty won without his best stuff or without Marmion's best defense behind him. Oswego put three runs on the board in the first inning. The Cadets committed four errors in the game.
Luckily for Marmion, Oswego (21-14) also was shaky in the field with four errors, and the Panthers seemed to make their miscues at even costlier times.
"Couple plays we should have made and then the floodgates opened," Oswego coach Chris Neitzel said.
Trailing 3-0 in the third, Jack Gunderson got Marmion's comeback started with a leadoff double. He scored when Chris Tydd beat out a bunt and the Panthers threw the ball away, sending Tydd to third. Tydd then scored on a wild pitch.
The Cadets went ahead in the fourth when they sent 14 batters to the plate. They had 5 hits, Oswego made 3 errors and hit 2 baters and Marmion scored 8 runs in a half of an inning that lasted 28 minutes.
Tim Tarter walked to start the inning. Kyle Kozak's RBI single down the left-field line made it 3-3. Steven Bryant stayed with an 0-2 pitch and drove it through the right side of the infield to give Marmion a 4-3 lead.
Another error scored the fifth run and kept the inning alive for Bobby Winkel, whose double to the left-field gap scored 3 runs and made it 8-3.
"That was a huge hit by Bobby," Marmion coach Dave Rakow said. "He's been coming up big like that all season."
Oswego then dropped a fly ball that scored Winkel, and Peters helped himself with an RBI single to conclude the 8-run inning.
Marmion didn't score again in the final three innings - Oswego retired the final 9 Cadets - but had just enough of a cushion to hold off an Oswego team that had just rallied from 6 runs down in its previous game to beat Yorkville.
"You know Oswego is going to score runs," Rakow said. "I'm just glad we put up 10 or they might have got us. I never felt comfortable that whole game."
Oswego made the Marmion fans sweat - even more than they already were on a summer-like day - with three runs in the fourth, one in the sixth and another in the seventh.
Rakow lifted Peters after he walked the leadoff hitter in the seventh, turning to Will Sterne. Oswego beat out two straight bang-bang plays at first base to make it 10-8 and put the tying runs on base before Sterne induced a grounder to Tydd at shortstop who stepped on second base for the final out.
"I was just thinking ground ball with the curve ball," said Sterne, who recorded his third save. "I know Chris is going to suck everything up that goes there."
Peters improved to 7-3, throwing a season-high 127 pitches striking out five and walking four.
"We came in just looking to hit the ball hard," said Peters, who also went 3-for-4 at the plate to join Tydd with multiple hits. "We did that today.
"I was struggling to throw strikes. The bats came around and helped me out a lot."
Now Marmion gets its chance at sectionals after starting the season 2-5.
"After the first seven games I wouldn't have imagined we'd be here," Rakow said. "To watch these guys progress to where they are now is very, very rewarding."