MM_072017

mokenamessenger.com sports
the Mokena Messenger | July 20, 2017 | 45
Baseball
Underdog Griffins earn summer regional win
RANDY WHALEN
Freelance Reporter
A couple of weeks ago,
the Lincoln-Way East baseball
team didn’t know if it
was going to be participating
in the Illinois High School
Baseball Coaches Association
Summer Baseball Tournament.
After all, the Griffins
had only played three
games as a team all summer.
But this week, East played
in the IHSBCA Phil Lawler
Summer Classic State Tournament
at North Central
College in Naperville and
Benedictine University in
Lisle after winning the local
tournament.
Such is the odyssey for
the Griffins, who tripled
their summer win total in
two days with four victories.
That was capped off with an
8-5 win over the host Porters
on July 12 in the title game
of the Lockport Summer
League Regional.
“We didn’t even play a
game [the previous] week,”
East coach Eric Brauer said
of the week of Independence
Day. “So we were not in the
[IHSBCA] Tournament until
late [that] week. We had
played three games all summer
and then we played four
in 36 hours.”
The summer regional
championship was the first
for East since it won the
summer state tournament in
2008. Lincoln-Way North
won the IHSBCA Phil
Lawler Summer Classic
State Tournament in 2011
and 2015 and Lincoln-Way
— when it was still just one
school — won the summer
state in 2000.
In past years, there was a
requirement that the teams
entered in the IHSBCA
Tournament play 10 games
in the summer. But due to a
decreased number of teams
getting involved in the tournament
because of travel
ball, that stipulation was
dropped for this summer.
That worked out perfect for
East (6-1). Brauer, who was
hired last month after leading
Chicago Christian to a 40-2
record and a third-place Class
2A state finish this spring, put
together the team in a short
time and proved that next
spring looks promising.
“I was at football camp
when all of the sudden I got
a message to come out and
play baseball,” East senior
Jake Tencza said of a text he
got in June when he didn’t
know that there would be a
Griffin summer league team.
“So we just went out and
played.
“But we bought into the
championship culture that
coach [Brauer] brought.
We’re just getting started
and it feels great.”
In the title game against
the Porters (11-5), East
took the lead for good with
a four-run fourth. Senior
Jake Slager’s sacrifice bunt
turned into an errant throw
that allowed two runs to
score and tie the game. Junior
Matt Watson (2-for-3)
walloped an RBI triple to
put East ahead for good and
Tencza (2-for-3, 3 RBI) added
an RBI double to give the
Griffins a 5-3 advantage.
“I hit the ball well,” Watson
said. “It feels great to
have beaten a top program
like Lockport and win this
regional championship.”
In the fifth inning, East
loaded the bases on a pair
of walks and a hit by pitch.
Then, with two outs, Tencza
was also hit by a pitch to
make the score 6-3.
“I couldn’t do it without
my teammates getting on
base,” Tencza said of his
success in the game. “We
made the Lockport pitchers
Julian Everett takes a swing during a game last spring. East won the Lockport Summer League Regional, which took
place over two days last week, after defeating Lockport July 12. Julie McMann/22nd Century Media
throw a lot of pitches and
kept turning over our lineup.”
Lockport left the bases
loaded in the fifth, but did
cut the lead to 6-5 when junior
Collin Woulfe (1-for-4,
2 RBI) hit the eighth pitch of
his at bat to right field for a
two-out, two-run single.
But the Griffins added a
pair of two insurance runs in
the seventh on a wild pitch
and an error. Chase Blatzer
earned the save for winning
pitcher.
“I got both strikeouts on
curve balls,” Blatzer said. “I
don’t get nervous out there, I
just go out do my thing and
throw strikes in the key situations.”
A two-out, two-run double
by junior Jack Mladic (2-for-
4, 2 RBI) capped a three-run
first for Lockport, which
scored the games first run on
an error. The Griffins began
their comeback when Tencza
had a one-out RBI single to
left in the third.
Earlier in the day in the
opening semifinal game,
East had an incredible rally
to defeat Minooka 10-9.
Trailing 7-0 after one inning
and 9-7 with two outs in the
top of the seventh, the Griffins
came back to win.
“We never thought we were
out of the game,” Watson said.
“I went to the plate with the
mindset to get the job done.”
True to his word, Watson
whacked a two-out RBI
double to tie the game at 9-9.
That came on the heels of a
two-out RBI double by senor
Jake VanderWoude. When
junior Zack Jurgens (2 for 5,
2 RBI) reached on an error,
the go-ahead run scored. Senior
left-hander Dan Sajewski
pitched three scoreless
innings in relief, allowing
one hit to get the win.
Minooka (12-4) was the
No. 1 seed in the regional.
In the second semifinal,
Lockport defeated Plainfield
North (10-3) 7-1.
In the quarterfinals, which
were all held on Tuesday,
July 11, East edged Plainfield
Central 8-7. Griffin
senior Julian Everett annihilated
a two-run home run
that broke a 5-5 tie in the
top of the sixth. Everett also
doubled and Slager and Jurgens
each added three hits.
Junior Matt Clark got the
win in relief as Central (8-5)
couldn’t score in the bottom
of the seventh.
Earlier on Tuesday, the
Griffins traveled to Plainfield
South for a 10 a.m.
game that was a makeup
of the previous days opening
round rain out. There,
East defeated the defending
IHSBCA state champion
Cougars 3-1.
Slager smacked an RBI
triple and senior Brandon
Petkoff poked an RBI single
in the third inning for a 2-0
lead. The Cougars (7-8) who
only return two players and
one starter from the summer
state title team, scored their
run in the bottom of the third
on an RBI ground out. Petkoff
added a two-out RBI
single to right in the fifth for
the final run.
Cole Kirschsieper went the
distance to get the win for
the Griffins. The junior lefthander
allowed only two hits,
while walking two, hitting one
and striking out 11 batters.
“My curve ball kept them
off balance and I wanted the
complete game,” Kirschsieper
said. “That was only
our fourth game of the summer,
but I like the chemistry
between everyone and I expect
us to go far in the playoffs
next spring.”