Baseball: Late Timothy Christian rally stuns Westmont
One team's dream is another's nightmare.
Timothy Christian's baseball team staged a stunning rally by scoring 10 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning of a 14-7 victory over Westmont to claim the Class 2A IC Catholic Prep regional championship Saturday in Elmhurst.
Eight straight batters reached base to start the inning. Sophomore Harrison Stanton laced a bases-clearing triple to give the Trojans (15-13) an 8-7 lead, and the hits just kept coming.
Nine hits in all flipped a 7-4 deficit to a 14-7 lead. When reliever Jimmy Allen, who struck out eight in 4 innings, set down the Sentinels (15-17) in the top of the seventh, Timothy Christian won its third straight regional title.
"I've never played in a game like that before," Stanton said. "When we saw this could be our last game of the season, I think that really got us going."
Westmont seemed in control with a 7-2 lead after Malek Mostafa and Bobby Risden drove in runs in the top of the fifth inning. Timothy Christian chipped away with a pair of runs in the bottom of the inning before the explosion in the sixth.
Fifteen players came to the plate. Stanton had a sacrifice fly in his second at-bat while Ethan Roemmich, Thomas Becvar, Connor Gwaltney and Garrett Pullen also drove in runs.
"It's really tough to swallow an inning like that when you're up three and only have six outs to go," said Westmont coach D.J. Cocks. "I still can't believe what happened, but you've got to give credit to them for hitting the way they did. We just didn't finish. You've got to play seven innings."
Westmont scored a run in the second on Christian Alexander's RBI single, then added 3 runs in the third on Alex Marotta's sacrifice fly and back-to-back run-scoring doubles by Caden Anderson and Alexander.
The Trojans scored twice without a hit in the bottom of the third. They pulled within 7-4 in the fifth thanks to starting pitcher Nick Huisman's RBI double.
Timothy Christian will face Saturday's Holy Trinity regional champion, either Holy Trinity or F.W. Parker, at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the IC Catholic Prep sectional semifinals.
"That was crazy," said Trojans coach Jim Snoeyink, whose team scored 29 runs in two regional games. "I don't remember a game like that. We've been struggling hitting all year, but I think it was important that we kept chipping away. And then the flood gates opened."
Lisle 8, St. Joseph 1:
The Lions (19-11) won the Class 2A Lisle regional championship, their first since winning the 2013 Class 2A title.
Lisle will face the winner of Saturday's DePaul College Prep regional title game between DePaul College Prep and Latin at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday in the IC Catholic Prep sectional semifinals.
A.J. Casmer was the complete-game winning pitcher, striking out 12 while scattering 7 hits. Damien Guerrero tripled, homered and drove in 3 runs.
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