Fenwick 9
Lyons 4
The Fenwick and Lyons Township baseball teams added another compelling chapter to their developing rivalry as the Friars defeated host LT 9-4 to win a Class 4A regional final on Saturday.
Last summer, Fenwick (22-9) also knocked out the Lions 5-3 in spoiling their bid for a repeat as IHSBCA champions.
“We beat LT last summer, and they felt we didn’t deserve to,” Fenwick pitcher Cam Verbeke said. “We came out here today and showed them what we are really all about.”
Lyons Township first baseman and Southern Illinois Edwardsville-bound Brian Lorenz offered an even more blunt assessment of the match-up.
“We wanted to kick those Catholic League boys’ butts,” Lorenz said. “I didn’t think it would happen twice; they beat us in the summer. I didn’t think it was going to go down like this but it did.”
The Lions (25-10) seemed well-positioned for some payback in the early going on Saturday. After singles by Ryan McMillin and Lorenz along with a walk to Ed Viliunas loaded the bases, Brad Winkler stroked a two-base hit that staked the Lions to a 3-0 lead.
Lyons added a run in the second when McMillin singled home Andrew Schrepfer to make it a 4-0 score.
Fenwick coach Dave Hogan pulled starter Joe Sweeney after 1 1/3 innings of work, not so much for his ineffectiveness, but more so for a shrinking strike zone.
“It wasn’t that Sweeney was throwing bad,” Hogan said. “I had to get a different strike zone out there. You could just see by his body language and our catcher’s (Joe Falsetti) body language that they were frustrated.”
The move worked well for the inspired Friars as Cam Verbeke (6-3) pitched 5 2/3 innings of scoreless relief
Facing the Lions’ ace C.J. Esposito (9-1), Fenwick rallied with a five-run second inning to take a 5-4 lead. Colin Tobin started the comeback with a sharp single to left field which was followed by a homer from Will Darley. A double by Brian Moore that scored Stephen Puisziz and a two-RBI single from Reid Rooney gave the Friars the lead for good.
Tobin added a two-run blast with Rob Bak aboard in the third to extend the Friars’ advantage to 7-4.
The Fenwick rally came against an unlikely candidate in Esposito.
“C.J. has had a fantastic year,” LT coach George Ushela said. “Fenwick beat a good pitcher and they beat us at our best. I’m proud of our team.”
In the top of the fourth, a ruling mistake by one of the umpires held up the game for about 10 minutes. With Brian Trefil on first base via a single, he was given a signal from an umpire to advance to second on a walk to McMillin.
However, the count on McMillin was three balls and two strikes. To the disbelief of Hogan, the runner remained on second base even after McMillin resumed his at-bat.
With Verbeke dealing on the mound, the Friars added runs in the fourth and sixth to secure their 9-4 victory.
“We were really excited about the game,” Falsetti said. “We know if we lose, we’re done. Even when we were down 4-0, we kept our intensity and we hit the heck out of the ball.”
Fenwick will meet sectional host Mount Carmel today at 4:30 pm in a sectional semifinal match-up. The Caravan took two from Fenwick earlier in the year.
Despite the disappointing loss, LT enjoyed another successful season.
“We showed that we could battle with the best ballclubs in the state,” Viliunas said. “It’s games like today against a rival like Fenwick before a packed house that makes it fun.”