Baseball: Calhoun talks his way into Grayslake North's win over Wheeling
The mound in baseball can be a lonely place.
Especially for a pitcher who might be in a bit of a jam.
But when Grayslake North senior pitcher Adam Calhoun finds himself in that situation, he makes sure to surround himself with a soothing voice.
His own.
"If I'm ever feeling a little nervous, I'll go behind the mound, take my hat off and talk into my glove a little bit, just kind of reset," Calhoun said. "I just talk to myself to ease myself down, just to make sure my head is in the right spot. I'll be like, 'Just pull yourself together, man. You've got this. You know your team is going to make plays and you can throw the pitches. Just get the job done.' "
Calhoun's pep talks to himself on Monday afternoon clearly helped him get the job done in the dicey final moments of an opening round Class 4A regional baseball game against host Wheeling.
The No. 17-seed Knights got a pitching gem from Calhoun for six innings but sweated it out in the bottom of the seventh when No. 16 Wheeling put together an 11th-hour rally.
But Calhoun talked himself down and ultimately closed the door on a 2-1 Grayslake North victory. Wheeling scored its only run in the bottom of the seventh and the Wildcats had runners on third and first when Calhoun forced the final out of the game.
Grayslake North, which improved to 11-17 on the season, advances to Wednesday's regional semifinal (4:30 p.m.) at Warren against the host Blue Devils, who have won 30 games, are seeded No. 1 in the St. Viator sectional and ranked No. 1 in the Daily Herald Top 20.
Wheeling finished its season with a 12-20 record.
"There have been a few games this year that have been decided by one run when I've been on the mound," Calhoun said. "It's nerve-wracking but I like to try to keep my cool. I know my teammates will be behind me."
Calhoun held Wheeling to 4 hits overall but just 2 hits heading into the bottom of the seventh. He also had 6 strikeouts.
"Adam was on. He was dialed in today. He was ready to go," Grayslake North coach Brett Hill said. "Give the ball to a senior to start the playoffs and you let him go do his job and he did. He threw 98 pitches in a complete game and executed. He is tough to hit.
"He's just got a lot of movement. His fastball's got a lot of movement in one direction and then his slider comes back the other way. And then he can throw a changeup, too. I think just having multiple pitches like that that are just tough and go different directions is big. He's put in a lot of work and I'm so proud of him."
Calhoun was zooming along and had tagged Wheeling with two outs in the bottom of the seventh when Jeremy Kim drove in a run with a single and advanced a baserunner to third. It was yet another late push for the scrappy Wildcats, who became very familiar with close games this season.
"We got some really good, tough at-bats there at the end and I'm just really proud of the kids because they've fought all year," Wheeling coach Jason Wieder said. "We've been in a lot of close games this year. I think we were 4-7 in 1-run games this year and I think we played 14 of 17 conference games within 2 runs. It's been a very competitive year, but unfortunately we just didn't stack enough wins. But we had great senior leadership all year."
One of those seniors was right fielder Michael Best, who got on base twice against Calhoun, with a fielder's choice and a hit by a pitch.
"We have a lot of kids who just don't give up," Best said. "That's what I love about Wheeling and what I love about these guys. But their pitcher was tough. Credit to him. We couldn't get anything going offensively. He had a lot of movement and that was tough to pick up."
Grayslake North scored both of its runs in the second inning on RBI by Brandon Legg and Nick Lovitsch. Lovitsch was 2-for-3 on the day with a double, as was Grant Garrett.