Baseball: Mundelein crushes McHenry in Class 4A semifinals
Mundelein has experienced its share of dramatic victories on the road to the Class 4A state tournament championship game with four consecutive one-run wins.
The Mustangs even made it through their sectional and supersectional by scoring a total of five runs.
“We didn't have to do any late-inning heroics today,” Mundelein coach Randy Lerner said. “I thank these guys for that.”
Behind junior right-hander Bennett Musser and an offense that banged out 12 hits, the Mustangs defeated McHenry, 12-0, Friday for a semifinal victory at Joliet's Duly Health and Care Field. Mundelein (29-5) will play Edwardsville (33-4) at around 5:30 p.m. Saturday for the state championship.
Bennett allowed one hit, a single up the middle to the Warriors' Cooper Cohn with two outs in the sixth. He struck out four, walked three and threw 92 pitches. While Bennett did not have a high number of strikeouts, McHenry did not have a lot of hard contact.
“When I throw my best is pitching to contact and have all three pitches working, getting a lot of ground balls, weak contact,” Bennett said. “That's when I usually have a good game. And it's a lot easier when you get some runs.”
Bennett did not mind losing his no-hitter on Cohn's hard ground ball up the middle.
“I made my pitch and he hit it,” Bennett said. “I know the kid and he's a good hitter. He hit it, whatever. I liked the pitch. We got the win, that's all that matters.”
McHenry, which averaged more than eight runs a game, had only one runner reach second base and that was on an error in the seventh inning.
Warriors lefthander Lleyton Grubich was strong early finished with nine strikeouts over five innings. But McHenry could not solve Musser.
“They had a good scouting report,” McHenry shortstop Kyle Kaempf said. “I didn't see a single fastball for a strike. It was all change-ups, they knew our lineup pretty well, a lot of off-speed pitches. He was tough, probably one of the best pitchers we've seen this year. Props to him.”
Mundelein got two runs off Grubich in the third inning when Danny Connelly doubled, Michael Farina singled and Drew Wellington delivered a sacrifice fly. Daniel Pacella then singled in Farina.
The Mustangs blew it open in the fifth with four runs, three of which were unearned. Connor Weik had a two-run single and Christian Seminaro had an RBI single.
“From Day 1 our goal has been state championship and we're there (playing for it),” Lerner said. “Unbelievable performance by all of them. We've been struggling offensively the last couple games. Had to get it done late in games.
“We got Bennett a couple runs and he was able to settle in. Unbelievable performance, able to work all three pitches and pitch to contact and let his defense work behind him.”
McHenry made its first appearance in the state tournament in school history.
“(Bennett) threw three pitches for strikes,” Warriors coach Brian Rockweiler said. “Anytime you can throw fastball, breaking ball and changeup for strikes, it's tough to hit and he was really tough.
“These guys have nothing to be ashamed of. They should be proud, first time in school history they've made it this far. A lot of people are proud of them. Lleyton threw the ball pretty well today, they were better. Give credit to Mundelein, they executed at the plate.”