Baseball: Rams making Grayslake community proud by reaching 3A state title game
There will be no call to "Play Ball" for youth baseball Saturday in Grayslake.
Now the hopes that the players and their families will head to Joliet where they can watch Grayslake Central make its first state baseball title game appearance.
The Rams advanced to the Class 3A championship by rolling past Effingham 9-1 Frida at Duly Field in Joliet.
Grayslake Central (33-7) will meet defending 3A state champion Nazareth (33-6) for the state title at approximately 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Nazareth beat Sycamore 3-0 in the other semifinal.
Grayslake Central coach Troy Whalen said that he expects the large contingent of students, relatives and fans of his team that made the trip on Friday to be eclipsed on Saturday.
"If you thought today's crowd was big, just wait until tomorrow," Whalen said. "I already got word that they canceled all the youth baseball games in town. Grayslake is a baseball community and these guys grew up playing baseball in Grayslake. My kids played baseball in Grayslake. The support we get is second to none."
It was Grayslake Central's fifth trip to the state finals.
"It hasn't sunk in yet," Whalen said. "But this group has checked a lot of boxes this year. There is another box to check and that was to win on Friday. And on the bus ride back to the hotel, we feel a lot better."
The Rams rode strong pitching by Will Schufreider and key at-bats to move into the title game.
"Will's thrown two gems in no bigger stage than in the sectional final and the game today," Whalen said. "He had all three pitches working. And we got some timely hitting."
Schufreider took a no-hitter and shutout into the sixth inning before giving up a single that drove in Effingham's lone run of the game.
"We actually talked that into existence," said Schufreider, who struck out six before giving way with two outs in the sixth.
"We were talking about it to weeks ago and someone said 'What if you go out and throw a no-hitter in the state semi's?' After that first hit, I thought, 'We are still up eight!'"
Schufreider was also the recipient of a terrific diving catch by left fielder Jack Gerbasi in the top of the second that took away an extra-base hit. Gerbasi said his effort helped make up for a base running gaffe in the first inning.
"The play before that, when I was on first, I didn't tag up," Gerbasi said. "To deal with that, I had to make up for it. I knew I had to make a play. It came to me, and I didn't make the best read. I adjusted and bang! It was there."
Despite that mistake, Gerbasi, who was hit by a pitch to lead off the bottom of the first, was still able to score. He went to second on Chris Rogers' single and came sliding home headfirst on Riley Policht's double to make it 1-0.
The Rams poured on the runs in the middle innings.
They scored twice in the fourth to pull ahead 3-0. Nolan Mussay's two-run double plated both Adam Fitzgerald and Policht.
Grayslake then tallied three times in both the fourth and fifth.
Like Mudd doubled with the bases loaded to score Sam Cooper, who had walked. Brendan Kirkner, who was the courtesy runner for Parker Greenfield, who also had walked, scored as well. Mudd would later score on Policht's second hit of the day to make it 6-0.
Mudd came up again big for the Rams in the sixth. Again the senior doubled home a pair of runs as Jordon Dumas, who had singled and Cam Marson, who had walked, both scooted home. Mudd would score again, this time on a single by Fitzgerald, his second hit of the game, to make it 9-0.
"Coach says that if we can get on them early, we can shut them down," Mudd said. "I think my mindset going into this game is that I had very big opportunities. As I long as I could get one or two in, I was happy with it. I got more than I was asking for, but I am not going to complain about it."
Fikret Dumas and Fitzgerald then closed out the win for the Rams.
Cooper said that his team going to the state championship game hasn't sunk in yet.
"As coach said, Grayslake is a baseball community," Cooper said. "We have been playing baseball with each other since we were eight. When we were 12, we kind of got together and said when we get down the line when we got to high school and we thought this could be a team that goes somewhere. And now as seniors, to actually fulfill that, we kind of have to pinch ourselves."