Lemont reigns in 3A baseball world

JOLIET – For the second time in three seasons, Lemont is king of the Class 3A baseball world.

The Indians scored seven runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to go up 9-0, and Angel Salinas ended it with a bases-loaded walkoff single in the sixth as Lemont whipped Springfield, 10-0, in the championship game Saturday before 1,615 fans at Silver Cross Field.

Senior right-hander Garrett Acton (7-2), a member of coach Brian Storako’s pitching staff when the Indians won the 2014 Class 3A championship with a thrilling 2-1 victory over Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, tossed a three-hitter while striking out four and walking three.

“The first one was a little more exciting at the end,” said senior first baseman Nick Wisz, a regular on the 2014 team. “This one feels the same, though. Whenever you win state, it feels great all the same.”

“The 2014 team set the tone and these kids ran with it,” Storako said. “We knew early on that this team was talented. We knew we had pitching. But we were playing quite a few juniors, and it took awhile to get it going. The juniors had to step up, and the senior leadership showed the way.”

Lemont (30-9) hit the ball well off the get-go, but the infield defense for Springfield (34-6) was up to the challenge early. The Senators turned double plays to end the Lemont half of the first and second innings.

The Indians’ Christian Krakar walked leading off the bottom of the third, and he created the game’s first run with aggressive baserunning. His long leadoffs forced a balk that sent him to second, and he advanced to third when Springfield starter Vishakh Patel threw the ball into center field on a pickoff attempt. Salinas, the No. 9 hitter, then delivered a sacrifice fly to center field for a 1-0 lead.

“Angel has had a ton of huge hits,” Acton said of Salinas. “Since last year he has improved a ton. He has become a very good hitter.”

Wisz, who hit the ball hard all day and finished with two hits, singled to open the Lemont fourth. Acton walked, and after a fielder’s choice, Ryan Sublette, who also contributed two of the Indians’ nine hits, delivered a long RBI single to center field for a 2-0 lead.

Acton made the big pitch of the game in the fifth inning. Springfield had runners on first and second with two outs when left-handed hitting Damian Pierce stepped up. He arrived at Silver Cross Field with a .438 batting average, 31 extra-base hits and 46 RBIs. But Acton induced a ground ball to second base to end the threat.

“Pierce can swing it, but I’ll take Garrett in that moment,” Storako said. “The way I always said with him and Ryan (Sublette, who pitched Friday’s 10-2 semifinal win over Saint Viator) that if they throw strikes, they will get people out.”

“He’s a fantastic hitter,” Acton said of Pierce. “I wanted to keep the fastball away against him, and that’s what I did in that spot. He rolled it over.”

Lemont put the game away in the bottom of the inning as seven walks, three errors and Joe Kelley’s RBI single produced seven runs and a 9-0 lead.

The celebration of a second state baseball championship for the Indians was moments away.

“The big cushion felt great,” Acton said. “It was nice to be one of the main guys this year. But the experience of both state championships couldn’t be better, all the great teammates off both teams. Two rings in three years – what a feeling.”

The Indians were confident with Acton on the mound.

“Garrett has been very dominating all year, and it was nothing different today,” Wisz said. “Him shutting them down all day helped us with our bats so much.”

Lemont’s pattern throughout the playoffs has included a big inning late in games.

“We haven’t always come out hot in the playoffs, but we have always plugged away,” Storako said. “Like we always tell the kids, each game is a process, each at-bat is a process. You go at it that way and good things happen.”

Two state titles in three years – good things indeed are happening.

SEMIFINAL VICTORY

Lemont suffered through a shaky first inning and trailed Saint Viator, 2-0, Friday morning. After that, however, it was all Indians.

Sublette, a junior right-hander, pitched a complete-game two-hitter, highlighted by 14 strikeouts, and he received offensive support up-and-down the Indians’ lineup in a 10-2 victory.

Sublette (9-1) allowed a walk, a hit batsman and an RBI single to Saint Viator’s first three hitters. Also in the mix was an errant throw back to him from catcher Casey O’Brien, which had brought home the first run. From the second through the sixth inning, however, the Lions managed only two baserunners.

“I felt like I was trying to get jacked before the game and I was overthrowing at first,” Sublette said. “I used my body more as the game went on and felt more comfortable.”

Lemont’s offense came to life after Saint Viator starter Kevin Napoleon struck out the side in the first inning. Acton cracked a long would-be double to left-center field leading off the second but was called out when the Lions appealed that he had missed first base.

Salinas ignited a three-run third inning that put the Indians ahead to stay with a hard infield single. Mike Wisz’s RBI single that make it 2-1, and Austin Tibble dropped a two-out, two-run single into center field on a 1-2 pitch to knock in the tying and eventual winning runs.

Dom Connolly drilled a triple to deep center field to open the fifth inning and scored on an errant throw by the catcher after a strikeout to make it 4-2.

Then came Lemont’s six-run explosion in the bottom of the sixth that put it away. Included were Salinas’ RBI single, O’Brien’s mammoth three-run homer, Acton’s solo homer and Sublette’s run-scoring double.

Salinas and Joe Kelley each had two of Lemont’s 10 hits. The day, though, belonged to Sublette. He finished with four walks – two each in the first and seventh innings – and two hit batters to go with 14 strikeouts, half of which were called third strikes.