Morris deals Kaneland critical blow to title hopes
From the distinct possibility of being no-hit to the having the tying runners on base, the Kaneland baseball fortunes swung dramatically Tuesday in Maple Park.
But Morris' Nick Evola induced a check-swing comebacker with Kaneland runners on first and second base to preserve a complete-game 4-2 victory over the Knights.
The Knights' opportunity to claim a share or outright Northern Illinois Big XII East baseball conference championship were considerably undermined by Morris' second consecutive win in the three-game set.
Morris improved to 22-8 overall, 9-4 in the league; Kaneland fell to 14-11, 9-5.
Yorkville, which was rained out against Sycamore, holds a half-game lead on Morris.
The Knights' conference finale is Thursday in Morris.
"It's a bad loss," Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said. "Offensively, we're not doing the job that we need to do. We're not out of the race. We need a lot of help. (Our destiny is) out of our hands. We're going to focus on what we can control."
Kaneland hit only 3 balls out of the infield over the first five-plus innings as Evola (7-2) did not surrender a hit; the senior southpaw had five straight strikeouts in the fourth and fifth innings with his fastball-curveball combination.
But the Knights finally solved Evola in their half of the sixth inning by stringing together a pair of hits with two outs to produce an equal number of gift runs.
An infield error prolonged the inning, and Anthony Holubecki legged out an infield dribbler to not only break up the no-hit bid but also load the bases.
Kaneland pinch-hitter Dan Hammermeister then rifled the first pitch he saw into the second-base hole to score Tyler Carlson and Nick Stratman to slice Morris' lead in half.
"We knew (Evola) was a junk-ball pitcher," Hammermeister said. "(The right-handed batters) were focusing on watching the off-speed pitches to the outside and driving it to right field. That's what I got and took advantage of it."
Nathan Hopkins' one-out double in the seventh gave Kaneland more hope, but Evola stranded the final two Kaneland baserunners with a pair of routine grounders.
Morris' Tom Cheshareck had the key hit of the game: the junior plated a pair with a ringing double to the left-center gap.
He scored on a Tim Smyk single to extend Morris' third-inning lead to 3-0, and Matt Bernickus' two-out fifth-inning single gave Morris an additional insurance run.
"That's where most of my power is, in the gaps," the left-handed Cheshareck said. "(Kaneland starter Curtis Thorson) threw me a fastball, I swung, connected and gave it a ride."
"(Thorson) pitched well enough to win," Aversa said.