Leaf delivers, but Moline prunes Palatine
Joe Leaf gave Palatine a chance to turn around its second-round American Legion baseball state tournament game against Moline.
In the process, Leaf's recovery from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow took a turn for the better Thursday afternoon at McHenry County College in Crystal Lake.
The 6-foot-7 Leaf, who will be a senior at Fremd, threw 31/3 hitless innings of relief but it couldn't prevent defending state champion Palatine (30-9) from losing 9-3 to Moline (33-6).
"It was really nice to see him get back like that," said Palatine's Sean Stutzman, who will be Fremd's top returning pitcher next spring.
"I feel really good about it," Leaf said after throwing 31 of his 43 pitches for strikes and retiring the first nine hitters he faced. "I'm hoping to get to pitch Saturday if we can make it and it's a big confidence boost going to the off-season.
"I was trying to keep our team in the game and hopefully we'd get some runs. It didn't happen but I have confidence we'll come right back (today) and get it done."
Palatine coach Jeff Ryder hopes Clint Terry can pitch in today's 9 a.m. elimination game against Mattoon (19-17), which knocked out Fairview Heights 13-4. Ryder said Terry couldn't pitch Thursday because of back stiffness and he played first base with Jake Llanas (4-1) getting the start.
The Palatine-Mattoon winner comes back at 12:30 p.m. to face Crystal Lake (24-10), a 13-4 loser to Wheaton (24-10).
Moline is in the driver's seat as the only unbeaten team and plays Wheaton at 4 p.m.
Leaf hurt his arm about 14 months ago, had surgery last July and pitched in a game for the first time in April.
He issued only 1 walk Thursday and on his third and final strikeout he got Illinois-bound all-state shortstop Thomas Lindauer swinging on a high fastball.
"I've struggled with my control a little bit since I got hurt but it came together today," Leaf said. "I can cut loose but I had to relearn some of my pitches. I'm definitely starting to get a better feel."
Unfortunately for Palatine, an RBI double and RBI single by Lindauer had Moline feeling good with a 7-0 lead in the third.
Moline right-hander Dakota Bacus (7-0) gave up 8 hits in 7-plus innings but the only ones in succession were a two-out double by Zach Demmon and Stutzman's RBI single in the fourth. Bacus relied on his fastball and changeup early as he had 8 strikeouts and 1 walk and threw 79 of his 124 pitches for strikes.
"This year we really haven't been shut down so that shows how good their kid is," said Stutzman, who had 2 of his 3 hits off Bacus.
"I waited five or six innings to bring out the curveball which probably wasn't the best of decisions, but you don't want to show everything to anyone too early," said Bacus, who was 7-2 this spring at Southeastern (Iowa) Community College. "This was a big game for us."
Moline added 2 unearned runs in the seventh and Palatine loaded the bases with no out in the eighth. But a diving stop and force by third baseman Drew Osborn on Matt Johnsen's RBI grounder helped prevent a big inning.
"We were one or two hits away from having that big inning," said Stutzman, who had an RBI single in the eighth.
"We couldn't get anything going and it really wasn't there for us," Ryder said. "All the credit goes to their pitcher and they made plays. They did the little things you need to do to win games."