Powerful Stevenson clubs 3 homers in sectional title-game win
Top-seeded Stevenson decided to play some old-fashioned long ball against No. 2 Warren on Saturday in the championship game of the Class 4A Barrington baseball sectional.
The Blue Devils took a quick 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. But the Patriots (33-3) chipped away with a run in the first, added 2 more in the third and exploded for 7 runs on 6 hits in the bottom of the fifth that included a 3-run homer and a grand slam en route to a 10-1 victory.
Stevenson advanced to the Rockford RiverHawks supersectional at 4:30 p.m. Monday against Maine South (26-10), which beat Glenbrook South 8-3 at Niles West. A trip to next weekend's Final Four in Joliet and a guaranteed state trophy are on the line.
Warren (29-9) only had 2 hits in the contest and they both came in the top of the first. Lead-off hitter Tim Bodine singled off of winning pitcher Tyler Radtke, who improved to 9-0.
Warren's Pat Kenney followed with another single to center before Bodine scored on a sacrifice fly by Mike Herrmann with one out for a 1-0 lead.
But the Blue Devils' edge was short-lived.
Stevenson senior Kyle Ruchim stepped up to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the first and hit a 385-foot homer over the fence in left-center against losing pitcher Ryan Kennedy for the first of 3 Patriots homers.
Ruchim (3-for-3, 2 runs, walk) was the man of the hour again in the bottom of the third when he delivered a two-out, 2-run double to left-center that gave Stevenson the lead for good at 3-1.
"After the first inning, they (Warren) thought they were in it so I wanted to kind of neutralize that and get us back to where we started," said Ruchim. "I think we're really confident and this has been our goal since the beginning of the year, so we kind of expected this."
The Patriots' 7-run outburst in the bottom of the fifth started with a one-out walk by designated hitter Kory Cutler. After Ruchim's single, cleanup hitter Patrick Wilson blasted a 3-run homer over the fence in right-center to put the Patriots ahead 6-1.
The onslaught continued with a single by Erick King before Jeff Johnson came in to replace Kennedy on the mound.
Johnson struck out the first batter he faced, but he walked Alex Daar and allowed an infield hit to Jeff Ferstein to load the bases for No. 9-hitter Mike Martin.
Martin patiently waited for his pitch ran the count full. He belted the next pitch for a grand slam, his first homer of the season, that gave the Patriots a 10-1 advantage.
"That was a little surprising and he (Martin) is our lone junior in the lineup. But he has had a lot of varsity at-bats and he was able to get a good swing at it," said Stevenson coach Paul Mazzuca, whose team collected 12 hits. "All year long we've been getting that big two-out hit and Kyle Ruchim's home run in the first kind of gave the momentum back to us."
Despite allowing a 1 run on 2 hits in the first, Radtke was solid with 7 strikeouts in 5 innings. Lefty Blake Fiedelman pitched the final 2 innings, and he struck out the side in the seventh to end the game.
"Ryan (Kennedy) threw a good game, but there are not many holes in that lineup and that is why they are the No. 1 seed," said Warren coach Clint Smothers, whose team smashed the previous school record of 25 wins in a season. "This is a group I'll never forget, and hopefully they'll learn from it and take it out to everyday life."
Patriots leadoff hitter Corey Lasky was 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored, while Cutler was 1-for-2 with 2 walks and 2 runs.
Wilson almost ended the game in the bottom of the fifth, but his two-out, bases loaded liner was caught by Warren center fielder Jon Frericks.