Baseball: Harvest Christian Academy headed to state for first time
Baseball supersectional plaques are normally awarded on dusty infields.
Harvest Christian Academy received its first supersectional plaque in a sterile conference room within the Krasa Student Center at Benedictine University Monday.
Harvest Christian Academy was declared the winner of the Class 1A Lisle supersectional over the River Ridge/Scales Mound co-op after torrential rain halted the contest after five innings with the Lions leading 3-1.
The umpires and host officials conferred with IHSA assistant executive director Sam Knox and decided to call the game due to unplayable conditions.
They gathered both coaching staffs in the conference room of the Krasa Center, located just beyond right field, and announced the decision.
The coaches exchanged handshakes like gentlemen. The RR/SM staff wished the Lions good luck at state and left the room to break the news to their players. The Harvest Christian players were then invited into the room, unaware what had been decided.
Once the Lions had gathered around coach Matt Ellett, he began to smile and said "I've got one question. Who wants to go to the state tournament?"
The players erupted in celebration of the program's first trip to the state finals.
"It was weird," Harvest Christian senior Jack Nohava said of the unique circumstance. "(Ellett) calls you into a room and it's all quiet and he didn't say anything. It was kind of an awkward mood. Then he's like 'Who wants to go to state?' And we all went crazy. It's not the normal way but it's still fun."
Harvest Christian (25-3) advances to a state semifinal against Ottawa Marquette (31-1) at Dozer Park in Peoria Friday at 10 a.m.
"You dream about this and now it's coming true," HCA senior Grant Young said. "It's just awesome."
RR/SM (21-9) scored a first-inning run on a walk and 2 hits against Harvest Christian No. 3 pitcher Sam Bonick (5-0), who allowed only 2 hits and 2 walks in 5 innings. Micah Knauer's two-out RBI double to left-center field staked the Hornets to the early lead.
The Lions used the pickle play to draw even in the second inning. With runners at the corners and two outs, freshman Tommy Abbatacola purposefully drifted off first base to induce a rundown. Hornets pitcher Tayden Patterson threw to second base but the tag was not applied, the umpire ruled. Meanwhile, Nohava broke for the plate and stole home before the throw.
"We talked about what we were going to do if we got in that situation and we didn't execute," Hornets coach Jeremy Knauer said. "If we would have played good defense and we would have played the way we were supposed to play, we would have won 1-0 and we'd be moving on to state."
The Lions took a 3-1 lead on an eventful third-inning play. Brock Wilken laced a gapper to right center. Center fielder Kevin Shetler made a diving attempt but the ball popped out of his mitt and rolled away as Gil Duran scored the go-ahead run from first base.
Wilken never stopped at third base. "I saw coach," Wilken said, "and he's sending me like 'Let's go. Let's go. Stop. Then let's go. Let's go.' He couldn't make up his mind so I said 'I'm going.' "
The catcher bobbled the relay throw to the plate, allowing Wilken to score.
"Our kid was dead at home," Ellett said. "Sometimes the baseball gods bless you and it happens to work out. It just happened to be our day. Not how you script it, that's for sure."