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winnetkacurrent.com sports
the winnetka current | April 19, 2018 | 53
Baseball
New Trier holds off furious HP rally
Michael Wojtychiw
Sports Editor
Going into the top of the
seventh, and final inning,
with a 9-1 lead, it would
have been easy for New
Trier coach Mike Napoleon
to put all new players
into the game and cruise to
an easy home win.
Napoleon did something
he has only done one other
time this season, he inserted
stud first baseman Anthony
Calarco as a pitcher
in the high-pressure situation.
“That wasn’t the plan,
but you have a Division-
I guy sitting over there at
first base, let’s go and get
two outs,” Napoleon said.
“Highland Park started
putting the bat on the ball
and got into a groove.
They did a nice job of not
giving up.”
Highland Park didn’t
make it that easy for the
Trevians though April 10,
in Winnetka. The Giants
attempted to claw their
way back, putting up six
runs in the top of the seventh,
but the Trevians held
off the visitors to win the
game 9-7.
Calarco entered in the
top of the seventh with the
bases loaded and only one
out after the Giants had
scored five runs to cut the
lead to 9-6. An RBI single
by Jack Greenwald cut
the score to 9-7, but the
Northwestern-bound Calarco
recovered to strike
out the next two hitters,
ending what turned out to
be a crazy inning.
“It’s pretty cold out so I
needed to focus on getting
loose,” Calarco said. “Bases
loaded, I was really just
looking to throw strikes
and hit the spots my catcher
was setting up. He did
New Trier’s Pete Burnside delivers a pitch against Highland Park April 10 in Winnetka. Michael Wojtychiw/22nd
Century Media
a great job of keeping everything
in front of him so
just throwing strikes and
staying within myself was
key, not trying to strike everyone
out.”
The craziness for Highland
Park started when
Luke Semrad reached on
a single and moved over
to third on the next hitter,
Michael Rooney’s, double.
A walk to Joey Reinberg
loaded the bases for senior
John Sakos, who proceeded
to knock a Preston Anderson
offering out of the
ballpark for a grand slam.
“It feels like throughout
the years we’ve never been
out of games, so we knew
if we get a couple hits
strung together, we can
come back,” Sakos said.
“I was trying to get good
contact on it (the grand
slam) and a first-pitch fastball
came in right where I
like it, so I tried to square
up and it ended up leaving
the yard.”
The next five hitters,
Noah Shutan, Noah Spitz,
Tyler Gussis, Jack Kramer,
and Greenwald all reached
on singles, with Shutan
scoring on Kramer’s single
and Spitz scoring on Greenwald’s.
In all, nine consecutive
batters reached
for the Giants in the top of
the seventh inning, but it
wasn’t enough as Calarco
came through when his
team needed him the most.
“Early in the game,
we left a couple balls up
on a pretty good hitter,
their number two hitter,
and he got them six runs
right away,” Highland
Park coach Jason Newburger
said. “The great
thing about this group is
that they’re never out of a
game. Top and bottom of
the order, they grind it out
with good at-bats, whether
we’re up 10-0 or down
10-0 and we did that today.
We just fell a bit short today.”
The Trevians looked
like they would roll early
on, thanks to the bat of Calarco
and the pitching arm
of Pete Burnside. Calarco,
the two-hitter in the Trevains’
lineup, drove a pitch
in the bottom of the first
that landed nearly across
the street on Hibbard
Road. He followed that up
in the bottom of the second
inning with a grand slam
that gave the Trevians a
6-0 lead.
“I was seeing the ball really
well out of his hand,”
Calarco said. “I was able
to get a fastball in the first
inning and then second
time was a curve that came
in on me and I was able to
get under it.
“Highland Park is a team
that doesn’t stop fighting.
They’re really scrappy and
you have to play baseball
until the final out.”
New Trier would add
runs in the third inning
when Kyle Caponi drove
in Payton Burch, Eddie
Harvey drove in Henry
Pelinski on a double play
in the fifth inning and Matthew
Roth plated Cam
Redding on a single in the
sixth.
While the offense was
putting up runs on the
board, Burnside was keeping
the Giants off of it. The
junior went 5 1/3 innings,
striking out seven and not
allowing a baserunner until
the fourth inning when
Spitz knocked out a single.
That would be only one of
two Highland Park batters
he would allow on base.
“He was unbelievably
accurate, painting the corners
perfectly,” Sakos said.
“He was almost unhittable,
it’s just hard to square up
and hit a ball when it’s
perfectly on the outside
corner.”
The Giants scored their
first run when Kramer hit a
fielder’s choice to drive in
Shutan in the sixth inning.
Athlete of the month
Cast your
votes for
Loyola and
New Trier
athletes
Voting for this month’s
Athlete of the Month contest
is open. Cast your vote
for your favorite athlete!
The candidates include:
• Hugh Brady, Loyola
hockey
• Charlie Scheinfeld,
New Trier boys swimming
• Alaina Vivian, New Trier
girls water polo
• Alexis Rocha, Loyola
softball
• Andrew Kirkpatrick,
New Trier boys basketball
Voting runs through the 25th
at WinnetkaCurrent.com.
BVB
From Page 54
their back row and I think
it really frustrated us a little
bit. Our guys weren’t used
to being dug that easily.”
James Snyder matched
Fulks with six kills, while
Ben Wiegand had 20 assists.
Drake Johnson had
four kills for the Ramblers
(9-7)
Loyola continued playing
without outside hitter
Jack Howard, who has
been out all season with
an injury. Ebeling said that
Howard practiced all week
but with a busy schedule
next week, the team will
look for him to come back
next week at some point.
Both teams now prepare
for one of the better
tournaments in the area,
the Downers Grove South
Tournament.