Baseball: Fremd upsets Warren in sectional semifinals

Fremd's Tom Cermak had his own Kirk Gibson moment.

Cermak was forced to the bench Wednesday in the Class 4A St. Viator sectional semifinal baseball game at Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg due to a badly pulled hamstring. The senior was then called upon to pinch-hit in the top of the eighth inning and delivered an RBI single to help lift the Vikings past Warren 6-5.

Fremd (22-14) earned its first trip to the sectional finals in 19 years. The Vikings will meet Lake Forest, a 6-1 winner over Highland Park in Wednesday's second game, on Saturday at 10 a.m.

Cermak injured his hamstring last Saturday in the regional championship game. He could barely walk and was on the bench watching as Warren scored 5 runs in the bottom of the seventh to send the game into extra innings.

With two outs for Fremd and runners on the corners, Fremd coach Chris Piggott called upon his injured player.

"I told him to let me know how he was feeling," Piggott said. "And if you can swing and walk down to first, that is all I need."

Cermak said he was ready.

"Coach told me at the beginning of the game, that if it came down to it, I could come in, Cermak said. "He just wanted to know if I could make it to first base."

With the potential go-ahead run at third base in Will Josten, Cermak and Piggott found out how far 90 feet is. Cermak drilled the ball up the middle and it scooted past the infield and Cermak did his best to make it to first.

"I felt a little tweak in the back of my leg when I first swung at the pitch," Cermak said. "After I hit the ball, it hurt pretty bad running to first, I am not going to lie."

Piggott said he was proud how his team reacted after Warren rallied.

"A lot of the games we lost this year, we just have not been able to finish," Piggott said. "It was looking like that might be the case. But these guys have a lot of fight in them too."

Fremd broke through in the fourth, plating 4 runs on a suicide squeeze, a seeing-eye line drive and a 2-run double.

Charlie Towns, who has been on fire at the plate in the playoffs with 9 hits, led off the inning with a single. He went to second when Brent Swenson was hit by a pitch and moved to third on Connor Giusti's long fly.

Piggott then rolled the dice with Will Josten, who laid down a perfect suicide squeeze. It allowed Towns to score and Josten beat the throw to first. Ryan Kiolbassa lined a single just past the outstretched glove of Warren second baseman Mikey Kocen, driving home a run.

Joey Rattin, who is a sophomore and was playing because of the injury to Cermak, drove a line drive gap to left center that drove in 2 runs to make it 4-0.

"It was pretty exciting," Rattin said. "My first at-bat I had to get used to a submarine type. But once I got used to it, I let it rip. I had to come up big for the team."

Fremd tacked on an additional run in the fifth. With two outs, Swenson reached on a throwing error and then stole second. Giusti then drilled a single to left, scoring Swenson to make it 5-0.

Fremd took that 5-0 lead into the bottom of the seventh. The Vikings' pitching had stymied Warren to that point, allowing just 2 hits.

This is a Warren team that set a school record for wins and won its first conference title in 28 years, and was ranked No. 1 in the final Daily Herald Top 20 of the regular season. So it was no wonder that the Blue Devils (32-5) had lots of fight left.

Brian Rapanan led off the inning with a homer to left. After an out, Casey Cobe and Michael Kocen singled and then both advanced on a wild pitch. A groundout scored a run to make it 5-2.

Brandon Houtz hit a hard ball up the middle that was misplayed by Fremd. A run scored on the play and Houtz ended up on second. Bradley Vondruska followed with a homer to left and suddenly it was tied at 5-5.

Warren had an opportunity to tie the game again in the eighth. With the tying run on first, Fremd's Nick Rattin made a great catch in deep center for the second out of the inning. The Blue Devils got another hit and had runners at first and second before a fly out to left ended their season.

"These kids have done a great job all year," Warren coach Clint Smothers said. "They don't quit. They should be proud of themselves. I have not been disappointed by this group one time. It has been a pleasure to coach these guys."