Baseball: Stevenson, Conant advance to sectional championship game

Stevenson and Conant both came up big innings to post wins Wednesday in the Class 4A Stevenson baseball sectional in Lincolnshire.

Stevenson scored five runs in the second inning to help the Patriots cruise to a 6-2 win over Prospect in the opening semifinal game. Not to be undone, Conant scored multiple runs in multiple innings to blow away Libertyville 16-4 in five innings.

That set up the sectional title game Saturday with top-seeded Stevenson (25-13) facing sixth-seeded Conant (27-7) at noon.

Stevenson, which won the sectional title a year ago, put themselves in a position to repeat with its win over Prospect.

“We’re not done yet,” Stevenson coach Nick Skala said. “The boys are playing well. There are not many times you can get a playoff game on your home field and know the lay of the land. And have your home crowd out here.”

Stevenson got all the runs they needed when they tallied five times in the bottom of the second. Joey Dolenga, who made two solid plays at second base defensively on line drives, coaxed a one-out walk after being down 1-2 on the count.

“In that spot, I am thinking I am not going down,” Dolenga said. “If I need to get on by walking, it’s a lot less flashy, but you have to do what you have to do. From there, we put another one on and another one on.”

Aidan Crawley followed with a double to right center and Matteo Nolasco loaded the bases when he was hit by a pitch. Kosuke Sakamoto drew a two-out walk to really get the floodgates started. Singles by Brandon Schultz and Sam Adelman each drove in a pair of runs to make it 5-0.

“We were trying to scratch and claw,” Skala said. “Their first pitcher was crafty. We got some barrels on the ball.”

Prospect (20-16) was able to get two runs back in their next at-bat. The Knights were able to parlay walks to PJ O’Grady and Alex Tolbert into a pair of runs thanks to an infield error and a wild pitch. But the Knights could get no closer when they ended the inning with the bases loaded.

Stevenson’s Drew Clark then came on for the final four innings to shut the door. The sophomore scattered three hits during the span did not allow a run.

“Going into the season I was used to be a reliever,” Clark said. “But whatever gets the job done for my team. I just want to go out there and allow my guys to make the plays behind me. I have full confidence in them.”

Stevenson added an insurance run when Ryan Harris reached on a dropped third strike. He would later steal second and score on a pair of wild pitches.

“We just didn’t counter enough offensively,”” Prospect coach Ross Giutsi said. “We hit a couple of balls hard, but right at people. I give our kids a lot of credit. We kind of staggered into the end of the season. But these kids really picked it up.”

Conant wasted little time in putting away Libertyville (26-10-2) in a battle between conference champions.

Conant, which won the Mid Suburban League title, scored five runs in the first inning. They would follow with three runs in the second and four in both the fourth and fifth as the Cougars batted around three times.

“It did cost people seven dollars to get in here, so we wanted to give people their money’s worth,” said Conant coach Derek Fivelson, whose team has now won 11 in a row.

“We prepared very hard for this game with our strategy and how to attack their pitcher. We had a plan to go right after them in the first inning.

Matt Maize’s double drove in a pair of runs to begin the game. Jacob Szpiganowicz would add an RBI single and Josh Barnett knocked in a pair with a single to make it 5-0.

That put Conant in great position with Bryce Loeger on the mound. Loeger had not allowed more than two runs in a game this season.

“It was huge to get a big lead early,” said Loeger, who allowed just one hit and is now 10-0.

“Most teams love to play at home. But not us. When we go away we like to jump on them with our bats. Going out there for me just becomes that much easier.”

Maize made sure that his pitcher was real comfortable. The senior belted a three-run blast in the second to make it 8-0.

“My teammates got on and I just piggybacked off of them,” said Maize, who would have five RBI in the game. “It was just a great team win.”

Maize was not the only offensive star.

Barnett had two hits and three RBI, Cooper Hanson had a pair of hits and three runs scored, Alex Martinez and Isiah Rhodes each had two hits and Jake Parpet had a double and three RBI.

Conant poured it on in the final two innings. That enabled Fivelson to pull Loeger with two outs in the bottom of the fifth when Loeger reached 60 pitches. That will make Loeger eligible to pitch in Saturday’s game with Stevenson.

“We kept him at 60 so we have some options for Saturday,” Fivelson said. “He can go as long as he wants. There is no weekly cap for the playoffs.”

Libertyville, which shared the North Suburban League title, was able to avoid the shutout when they scored four runs in their final at-bat. The Wildcats were able to do that thanks to five walks, a hit batter and a trio of wild pitches.

“Conant came with a solid approach at the plate,” Libertyville coach Matt Thompson said. “The whole body of work for us was solid this year. They were fun to coach and they were ready to come out and compete every day.”