Baseball: Grayslake Central rallies past Crystal Lake South, advances to sectional championship
Second-seeded Grayslake Central punched a ticket to a Class 3A sectional final with a 4-3 victory over No. 3 seed Crystal Lake South in eight innings Thursday.
The Rams won thanks to left fielder Jack Gerbasi drawing a bases loaded hit by pitch that brought in Ralph DeLeon with the winning run on their home diamond.
It earned the Rams (30-7) a ticket to an 11 a.m. sectional final Saturday morning vs. No. 4 Lake Forest (21-15). an 11-6 winner over top-seeded Cary-Grove in Wednesday's semifinal.
The game's starting time is being moved up a couple of hours from its original starting time of 1 p.m. due to Lake Forest's graduation.
"We always talk about at this time of year (that) in the postseason you just never know and the two constants that I do know are that you have got to play well and you bit to have a little luck," Central coach Troy Whalen said.
"I thought we played well. They're (Crystal Lake South) a good team. I thought we had great at-bats. We made great defensive plays. They made great defensive plays. For (the ticket price) $7 all the people here (in attendance) got a heck of game to watch. I'm not sure where you're going to get a better value."
The standing room only crowd that also sat in the very last row of bleachers on the home side of Central's football field got treated to an exciting contest that saw the visiting Gators (26-8) jump out to a 2-0 first inning lead courtesy of a two-run double by junior center fielder James Carlson.
Next, they saw a two-run outburst by Central in the bottom of the frame when Gerbasi reached home on a wild pitch and right fielder Adam Fitzgerald crossed home on an infield hit by DeLeon.
A single by DeLeon two innings later drove second baseman Garrett Guenther in for a 3-2 advantage only to see South tie it up on their next at-bat on an RBI single by sophomore shortstop Dayton Murphy that brought in right fielder Nate Karbowski.
Then, goose eggs dotted the scoreboard in left-center field as both teams underwent missed opportunities in the seventh. South left a runner on second when Rams reliever Colton Kornit struck out Christopher Regilio while Central ran into the same fate when senior Jayden Gumprecht retired Chris Rogers on strikes and then got Guenther out on a grounder to short.
After Kornit retired the Gators in the top of the eighth, the Rams got the winning run on base with DeLeon's third hit of the game followed by sophomore Cal Hanson's walk and shortstop Sam Cooper's infield hit which loaded the bases setting up Gerbasi's heroics that avenged a 1-0 sectional loss at year ago to South.
"I feel great. We did it. I can't stop smiling.
The Michigan State-bound Gerbasi also beams proudly about that as well.
"I'm going to enjoy that because that's a big life moment for me."
For Gators coach Brian Bogda, he paid homage to his team led by 10 seniors who helped them finish fourth in Class 3A a year ago.
"I'm super-proud of them," Bogda said. "You're an inning away from winning it, you're an inning away from losing it. There's nothing (else) to be said, it's a great season being 26-8 and (when) you lose to a good team at this point. Tip your cap to Grayslake (Central)."