Pitching gives Palatine hope in state Legion tourney
A pair of aces give the reigning kings of Illinois American Legion baseball a potential upper hand on the other five teams when the state tournament starts today in Crystal Lake.
Left-handers Clint Terry and Sean Stutzman give defending champion Palatine (28-8) the right place to start toward a repeat. The UIC-bound Terry is expected to start at 12:30 p.m. today against Fifth Division champion Fairview Heights (25-4) at McHenry County College.
Stutzman, Palatine's MVP in the Cook County tourney, will be ready for the second game of the double-elimination tourney Thursday.
"I'd say we have two No. 1s," said Palatine coach Jeff Ryder. "We could throw either one of them out there at any time."
Third Division champion Moline (32-6) and Illinois-bound shortstop Thomas Lindauer face Second Division champion Wheaton at 9 a.m. today. Fourth Division champ Mattoon (17-16) plays host Crystal Lake at 4 p.m. today.
The tournament runs through Saturday with the winner advancing to the Great Lakes Regional Aug. 5-9 in Mattoon.
"When we turn it on and we're hitting on all cylinders, we have a great chance to win," Stutzman said. "We've developed great team chemistry."
Plus it's a team where many of the key players experienced last summer's run to a third-place finish in the Great Lakes Regional. Terry is used to pitching big games in Legion and for Fremd the last two seasons.
He won Palatine's County opener but gave up 2 homers and 6 runs in 3 innings in Sunday's 12-9 comeback win over Elk Grove for the title. Fairview Heights scored 55 runs in its four Fifth Division games with aluminum bats after it scored 30 runs in five wood-bat games in its District 22 tourney.
Stutzman, who will be a senior at Fremd, didn't allow a run in the last five of his six-inning relief stint Sunday.
Palatine also has Jake Llanas, Jack Andersen, Erik Smoy, Zach Demmon and Joe Leaf to pitch. It lost Mike Schoolcraft, who will be a sophomore at UIC, to eventual Tommy John surgery but regained reigning state MVP Matt Johnsen.
Johnsen, who redshirted this spring at Ball State, came back from an inflamed labrum to pitch an inning Saturday.
"I feel really good about our pitching," Ryder said. "I feel good about being able to go to a lot of different guys off the bench.
"Our pitching has been outstanding and Tyler Gregory has done an outstanding job behind the plate."
Gregory's tying grand slam in the seventh inning Sunday was his fifth homer of the season. He's back from last year in a solid and versatile lineup which includes Terry, Johnsen, Stutzman, UIC-bound center fielder Zenon Kolakowski and Bradley-bound third baseman Eric Paulson.
Shortstop Zach Kolakowski and second baseman Kevin Ciardiello have been solid additions with Demmon, Smoy and Andersen to give Palatine a shot at its third state title.
"Our pitching is coming around and our hitting has definitely come around since the beginning of the season," Gregory said.
"I feel our team as a whole is pretty confident," Johnsen said. "We'll see if we can take it from here."