Teutopolis pulls away from Immaculate Conception
There was a moment when Immaculate Conception's baseball team felt the momentum swinging its way.
Teutopolis quickly made that feeling disappear.
A 5-run sixth inning broke open a close game and powered the Wooden Shoes to a 9-4 victory over Immaculate Conception in the Class 2A state semifinals Friday at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.
The most successful season in Knights baseball history comes to a close at 3 p.m. today when Immaculate Conception (30-11) plays Illinois Valley Central (32-6) in the third-place game. The title game follows between Teutopolis (30-4) and Harrisburg (40-0).
After winning the first sectional championship in program history two years ago but coming up short in the supersectional, this season will end with unprecedented success for the Knights, who broke the program record for wins. Coming home with a trophy represents an impressive piece of history for the Knights even though they were hoping for the top prize.
"Definitely, you feel satisfied getting down here," said Knights senior captain Matt McMahon. "But at the same time, you get down here and you want to win. Third place is great, but you come down here to win."
Immaculate Conception trailed 2-0 in the second inning and 4-2 heading to the bottom of the fifth. The Knights rallied against hard-throwing Wooden Shoes starter Luke Bushur (10-0), who surrendered three straight hits to start the fifth.
McMahon singled home a run and Immaculate Conception tied it at 4-4 on starting pitcher Kevin Nutley's sacrifice fly.
"I thought once we tied it up that it was our game," said Knights coach Dan Holleman. "That's the way the playoffs have been going. You can't get every bounce and every break to go your way. Eventually your luck is going to run out."
With dominant closer Jose Godinez (7-4) on the mound in relief, things were looking good for Immaculate Conception. Teutopolis, however, broke through for 5 runs in the top of the sixth after taking advantage of 2 errors with 4 hits.
"I fell behind sometimes, and they're a real good hitting team," Godinez said.
Wooden Shoes leadoff man Derek Thompson, who went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI, singled home a run and then Garrett Overbeck came through with a huge 2-run double to break open the game.
"After we got those runs there, got 9 runs, I was pretty amped up," Bushur said. "I livened up a little bit more and I was able to close it out."
Teutopolis took a 2-0 lead in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Dillon Hardiek and an RBI single by Thompson. A run-scoring groundout by McMahon made it 2-1 in the third but Thompson singled home 2 runs in the fourth.
Immaculate Conception tallied all its runs in the middle three innings, including a run in the fourth on Steve Maloney's sacrifice fly.
"I'll give credit to the other team, Immaculate Conception," Bushur said. "They battled all night. And in those middle innings they were starting to get a jump on my fastball and had to make me adjust."