Wild ending for Prospect

Postgame celebrations tend to get a bit wild at this stage of a season.

Especially when it’s a chance to celebrate a historic occasion as the Prospect baseball program did on a scorching Saturday afternoon at Barrington’s Kirby Smith Field.

And it was a bases-loaded wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning which brought Matt Molini racing home with the winning run. Seconds later he was in the midst of a mob of Prospect teammates after it claimed the program’s first sectional title with a 7-6 victory over Warren in the Barrington Class 4A championship game.

“These kids are amazing, absolutely amazing,” Prospect coach Ross Giusti said of his team’s fourth late comeback in its last five victories.

“Phenomenal. Absolutely wonderful,” said Prospect senior first baseman Brian Bauer after his two-out RBI single capped a tying 2-run rally in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“This is incredible,” said senior Steve Dazzo, who pitched 2⅔ shutout innings to get his first varsity victory. “It’s a great feeling.”

One which saw the third-seeded Knights (25-8) finally break through after sectional-final losses in 1987 and 2006. They avenged a 6-3 loss to No. 4 Warren (22-13) on April 11 to advance to Monday’s 4:30 p.m. Rockford RiverHawks supersectional against Glenbrook North (33-3), which beat Leyden 15-6 for the Glenbrook South sectional title.

Warren was an out away from heading to Rockford instead of ending its season for the second straight year in the sectional finals.

“Last time we played these guys … we came back and stole it,” said Dayton-bound Warren designated hitter Kevin Colburn, who drove in 3 runs. “Against a team like that you can’t expect to win, you have to finish the game. They came on and finished today.”

Prospect’s dramatic finish came without a hit after Molini was plunked by a pitch for the second time in the game and fifth time in the postseason. Tanner Erbach, who pitched 1⅔ scoreless innings earlier and came back in for a scoreless eighth, was relieved by Caleb Haley.

Haley retired two of Prospect’s most dangerous hitters, Peter Bonahoom and Jack Landwehr. But a wild pitch and a wild throw on Bauer’s check-swing roller to shortstop put runners at first and third.

Warren intentionally walked Kurt Donner (3-for-4) to get to junior Brad Gerdes, whose 3-run homer in the second inning was his second in two games and of the season. But the first pitch to him bounced in the dirt and skipped away toward the first-base dugout.

“We battled,” said Warren coach Clint Smothers. “It could have gone either way.”

For 6½ innings, almost everything seemed to be going the Blue Devils’ way as all of their runs en route to a 5-3 lead came with two outs. Adam Glogovsky had an RBI single in the second and they got 2-run singles by Colburn in the third and Ryan Kennedy (3-for-5) in the fourth.

Junior Jimmy Nickell settled down after Gerdes’ homer but came out after giving up a one-out double to Shane Joyce in the fifth.

“Jimmy threw well and I couldn’t be more proud of him,” Smothers said after the righty had 6 strikeouts and no walks. “In games past he went real well for four or five innings and then he would give up runs late in the game. I thought we had to make a change there.”

Bonahoom had a two-out RBI single to make it 5-4. Prospect starter Ben Menich kept it close and came out after Kennedy’s one-out single in the seventh.

Dazzo, the tough-luck loser in the first meeting with Prospect, gave up a walk, an infield single to Patrick Kenney and Colburn’s sacrifice fly. But Dazzo left runners at second and third with a strikeout.

Dazzo (1-3) also left a runner at third in eighth and runners at first and second in the ninth.

“I threw strikes and let my fielders make plays,” Dazzo said. “They’re a great offensive team. I knew I had to stay around the zone and get all my pitches working.”

The Valparaiso-bound Kennedy came in and got the first out of the seventh but Luke Bergman lined a 1-1 fastball to left-center for his sixth homer. Molini singled, took second on a wild pitch and went to third on Bonahoom’s flyout to deep center. After Landwehr was intentionally walked, Bauer lined a 1-0 pitch to center for a 6-6 tie.

“I’m sure Jack was furious. but it sends shivers up my spine,” Bauer said. “To be up in a place to put the team back in the game.”

Two innings later, Prospect completed the comeback in the biggest baseball game in its history.