Baseball: Geneva gets past Schaumburg
Admittedly, Bryan Callaly wasn't expecting to hear his name called early Thursday afternoon.
However, the 6-foot-7 senior right-handed pitcher was ready when called upon as he fired 7 innings of masterful relief during Geneva's unconventional 11-5 triumph over Schaumburg (13-18) in Thursday's Class 4A regional semifinals at St. Charles East.
The sixth-seeded Vikings (23-11) struggled mightily at the outset, as the 11th-seeded Saxons grabbed a 4-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
Callaly (8-3) entered the contest with runners on second and third and nobody out in relief of starter Trevor Wilcox.
"I didn't even have my cleats on to be honest," said Callaly, who improved his record to 8-3 with an 8-strikeout outing. "I was expecting Trevor (Wilcox) to go five or six innings and maybe I'd come in for a save. Coach (Matt Hahn) called upon me and I just wanted to help us win."
Callaly did just that, allowing 2 runs and 6 hits while saving the rest of the Vikings' bullpen.
"It's all hands on deck when it comes to the playoffs," said Vikings coach Matt Hahn, whose team will face St. Charles East (22-16) in an all-Upstate Eight Conference River Division regional final Saturday morning.
Obviously, Hahn wasn't expecting his team to fall behind 4-0 before even getting a chance to lift a bat.
"If you were going to draw the first inning up, this is not what we would have written," said Hahn. "I just told them, 'don't try to get them all back at one time - just try to win your at-bat.' "
Geneva recovered, scoring 3 runs without the benefit of a base hit in the bottom half of the first. Run-producing sacrifice flies from Jack Olson and Vince MacDonald along with a bases-loaded walk to Matt Simpson helped get the Vikings back in the game.
"Always have an answer," said Hahn. "I've been saying that for 18 years. Even if you get one run out of that, you get some momentum back."
Trailing 5-3, the Vikings responded with a 4-run fourth, taking the lead for good on Jack Wassel's 3-run double.
Sophomore Josh Rose's RBI double capped a 4-run fifth as the Vikings pulled away late.
Jacob Rintz and Tony Olson each had a pair of hits while Jack Bellinger added a 2-run single for the Saxons, who used 4 different pitchers.
"That hasn't been our story," said Saxons coach Cal Seely. "We've been pitching really well all season - it's the offense that has been lacking. I was hoping for that 1-2-3 inning (in the first) and they scored three runs on no hits. That's a tough one to take. It's a momentum shifter."