Baseball: Maine West's Cinderella run ends with loss to Loyola
Maine West baseball coach Mike Randazzo had a positive vibe when his team left Des Plaines for Glenview on Thursday.
The Warriors were headed to the resumption of their Class 4A Loyola sectional semifinal in which they trailed the host Ramblers 7-2 in the bottom of the third inning.
"We've been here before," Randazzo said. "We've come back from deficits like this in the past."
Unfortunately for the ninth-seeded Warriors, another comeback wasn't in the cards this time and they dropped a 12-6 decision to No. 4 Loyola.
Despite a torrential downpour that lasted nearly an hour on Wednesday, a continuous maintenance process throughout the day helped make the field conditions a non-factor on Thursday.
"We have good drainage here when you put the (quick drying compound) turface on the diamond," said Loyola coach Nick Bridich. "It dries things pretty quickly."
Loyola (22-9-1) advanced to Saturday's 10 a.m. championship against No. 3 seed Evanston (21-10-1), which earned a 9-7 come from behind win over No. 7 Lane Tech in the second semifinal at Loyola's Munz campus in Glenview.
When play resumed on Thursday, right fielder Trey Torain continued the Ramblers' assault on Warrior pitching with a double that brought home Jack Moran to extend the Loyola advantage to 8-2 in the bottom of the third.
Torain finished the game 3-for-5, and only a single away from the cycle.
The Warriors (13-14) came no closer than 8-4 thanks to a pair of RBI singles from seniors Matt Johnston and Cory Scholler in the top of the fifth.
But that was negated by 2 runs in each of the next two Rambler innings. A 2-run double by Jason Vrbancic and 2-run homer by Johnny Mejia extended the lead to 12-4.
Sophomore Emmett Olson's 2-run homer scored David Roscoe and accounted for West's final runs in the game with one out in the top of the seventh.
For Randazzo and his club, another long postseason run came to a close. The Warriors also made it into sectional the past two seasons, far outplaying their seed.
One of the keys for the success this spring was the leadership of 11 seniors who wore the light blue jerseys with gold trim for the final time.
Max Carlisle, Rushi Dave, Andy Ellsworth, Matt Fairhead, Matty Mustari, Adin Ocasio, Alec Pashos, Jay Saini along with Johnston, Scholler and Wednesday's starting Josh Wastyn amassed a 5-2 record in those regional title runs, something which didn't go unnoticed in Randazzo's praise.
"They're simply great," Randazzo said. "A lot of what happened these last two years is due to them. They never quit. You can see the level of emotion they have as they don't want to leave the field just yet."
They also left a strong impression on underclassmen like Olson.
"They're a big reason why we've had great chemistry this season - all of them," Olson said. "They've allowed us to push one another which made us a better team."
"They enabled our young guys to gain some very important postseason experience," Randazzo said. "Hopefully that benefits us in the future."