Baseball: Mundelein handles Barrington in regional title game
Coming into Monday's contest versus Barrington, the Mundelein baseball team had scored a whopping total of 59 runs in its previous three games.
The Mustangs' hit parade continued unabated against the Broncos.
Mundelein, a No. 2 seed, plated 10 more runners Monday in a Class 4A regional-championship game, winning 10-3 over third-seeded Barrington.
Cristian Santiago, Drew Wellington and Tommy Stricklin each had 2 hits for the Mustangs, while Santiago, Stricklin and Chris Rooney contributed to the cause with 2 RBI apiece.
"We take a lot of pride in our hitting," said Mundelein coach Randy Lerner. "We've worked really hard all year, and actually 'Back to Work' has been our motto.
"The guys come out battling in practice, just battling, battling, battling to prepare to see good pitching. And when we've seen good pitching, we've hit it."
Mundelein senior Michael Rastrelli got the complete-game win
"Mike's got a great arm," said Lerner, "fastball, curveball, and he stays around the plate. He's going to challenge hitters, and he's got a great defense behind him that he trusts."
Jake Kohanzo and Mason Rasmussen paced Barrington (21-5) with 2 hits apiece.
"We knew they (Mundelein) were going to score runs," said Broncos coach Pat Wire. "It's really difficult (to hold them down) unless you're throwing 90 miles an hour, and we don't have that guy. But we felt that we came up short with the bats today. We thought that we could stay close enough to have a chance, but they broke it open early and we couldn't stop the bleeding.
"When you put two 21, 22 win teams in a regional like this, it's like the equivalent of a supersectional, so something's got to give. Mundelein was the better team today, and you have to tip your cap to them."
The Mustangs (23-4-1) led 4-1 going into the fifth inning when they broke open the game with 5 runs.
First junior Drew Wellington scored on a wild pitch, classmate Daniel Pacella followed with a run-scoring sacrifice fly, then a basehit from third-baseman Stricklin sent one runner home and another single by Rooney plated 2 more.
Mundelein took a 10-2 advantage into the top of the seventh, and the thoughts of many went back to Friday's regional semifinal against Cary Grove - where the Mustangs led by 8, only to see the Trojans scored 9 times in the top of the seventh to grab the lead.
The Mustangs were able to score twice in the bottom of the seventh on that day to escape with a 16-15 win, and although the Broncos loaded the bases in the final frame Monday, Rastrelli and his teammates wriggled out of the jam with only 1 run scoring to claim the regional crown.
"It was a little difficult to have that sitting there (thoughts of the Cary Grove rally) and not think about it today," admitted Lerner. "But we felt like we had gotten that one out of our system. We were ready to get the last three outs."