Upstart Freeport ousts Marmion
Marmion had Freeport left-hander Ryan Lane on the ropes throughout Wednesday’s Class 3A Sycamore sectional semifinal, but failed to deliver the knockout blow.
Lane’s gritty 133-pitch complete game performance could be categorized as effectively wild, as the junior fell behind nearly every hitter, walking five Cadets and hitting two more.
However, Marmion mustered just two singles while Freeport hammered four extra-base hits, including a solo home run from Lane on their way to posting a 5-1 victory.
The upstart Pretzels (17-20), who were seeded fourth in the Freeport regional, will continue their improbable run in Saturday’s title game against the winner of today’s semifinal between Burlington Central and Prairie Ridge.
“One hit might have been all it would have taken just to get us going and it didn’t happen,” said Marmion manager Dave Rakow. “You have to give their guy credit for pitching the way he did today.”
Marmion (22-11) rattled Lane in the first as Mike Pipp and A.J. Friedman coaxed walks, but Freeport catcher Jack Lehnherr bailed out his pitcher by gunning down both runners trying to steal second.
“Whenever you lose a game you go back and there’s always things you’d like to change and maybe that’s one of them, but we had scoring chances two or three times today and we couldn’t do it,” Rakow said.
“That really set the pace for the entire game,” Lane said. “The walks got me down and then Jack picked me up.”
Cadets starter Connor Riley (7-4) pitched around a leadoff triple in the second inning with a pair of strikeouts and a fly out, but the complexion of the game changed in the third.
Marmion loaded the bases with one out, but Andy Young was forced out at home on Mitch Sterne’s grounder to first and A.J. Friedman struck out.
Lane promptly launched Riley’s first-pitch fastball well over the right field fence and number nine hitter Adam Smith followed with a walk. He advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt and wild pitch and scored on a groundout for a 2-0 lead.
“Our goal was to get on the board early and make them chase us a little bit, eliminate some of their small ball and bunting ” said Freeport manager Roger Fegan. “We were fortunate to do that.”
The Cadets set the table perfectly in the fifth as Young reached on a tough error on the shortstop and No. 8 and 9 hitters Brady Roberts and Shane Cano followed with walks.
Pipp fouled out to Lehnherr when Rakow put on a suicide squeeze for Mitch Sterne. Sterne executed a perfect bunt single down the third base line, but a balk was called before the pitch was thrown.
Although Marmion cut the deficit to 2-1, Sterne ended up flying out to Smith in short right field and pinch runner Tyler Eberth was thrown out at the plate trying to tag from third.
“As we’ve developed as a team and gotten more chemistry, we’ve been able to make plays in those key situations,” Lane said.
The Pretzels chased Riley in the bottom of the fifth as Colin Wescott rifled a 2-run double down the left field line for a 4-1 advantage.
“Connor was throwing strikes and usually if he throws strikes he’s effective. He just got a couple of fastballs up and they took advantage,” Rakow said.
The Cadets hoped to put together a rally after Roberts lined a solid one-out single to left in the seventh, but Lane retired the final two hitters after a visit from Fegan.
It was a bitter and sudden end for an experienced Marmion squad that featured eight senior starters and 11 seniors overall.
“I told the seniors it’s going to hurt right now, but after a few days they’ll realize this senior class won two regionals and two conference championships,” Rakow said. “The program’s better now then it was when they came into it.”