Baseball: Chance Lange, Sandwich hold off Plano after losing early lead

PLANO – Sandwich’s Chance Lange turned toward the Plano dugout and demonstratively mimicked the motion of putting a sword in a sheath after the final out.

“A little bit, I was waiting to do that,” Lange said.

In a game filled with wild momentum swings, emotions on both sides – and six hit batters, one called back, Lange had the last word.

The Sandwich senior recorded his fifth strikeout with the tying run at the plate and two out in the bottom of the seventh, preserving the Indians’ 7-4 win over Plano in the first of a two-game series that pulled the two teams into a tie for second place in the Kishwaukee River Conference.

Lange, allowing five hits, three walks and two hit batters in the complete-game effort, slammed the door with four shutout innings after allowing Nick Serio’s tying three-run homer in the third.

“He is insane, a really good pitcher,” said Sandwich center fielder Tyler Lissman, who helped the cause with a tremendous running catch on Kaden Aguirre’s deep drive in the fourth. “He kept his composure today and he shoved.”

Not easy to do, after Serio’s three-run shot with one out in the third erased what was a 4-0 Sandwich lead, tying it 4-4. But Lange shook his head to put it behind him as Plano runners crossed the plate, and shook it off on the scoreboard.

“I missed a spot, I knew I missed a spot [to Serio] and I just had to battle back,” Lange said. “One of the things we’ve focused on all season is responding. We don’t let it get in our own head and respond throughout the game.”

The Indians (16-12, 9-4 KRC) did indeed quickly respond, surging back ahead with two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth. Three one-out singles in the fourth followed by Chris Barbor’s RBI groundout scored Jeff Ashley with the go-ahead run, and Lissman scored on a wild pitch to make it 6-4. In the fifth, Ashley reached on a two-out error to score freshman Chase Clark.

Clark, just called up to varsity Tuesday, was 3 for 3 and reached base four times.

“It’s been huge for us all year to come back,” Lissman said. “We’ve been taught to respond in situations and that’s what we did.”

Plano, though, struggled to respond early from a deflating loss the night before.

The Reapers (19-10, 9-4) on Tuesday, in a resumption of a game they led Marengo 12-10, lost a four-run lead in the bottom of the seventh inning of an eventual 15-14 loss in nine innings, and with it lost an opportunity to win the first baseball conference title in school history.

“We had everything in position last night, just didn’t go our way,” Plano coach Nate Hill said. “Definitely a somber ride home for us last night, but that’s baseball.”

Sandwich in the first inning Wednesday sent 10 batters to the plate for a 4-0 lead, Plano contributing with two hit batters, a walk and two errors. Of Sandwich’s seven total runs, two scored on errors, one on a wild pitch, and three on ground outs.

“A lot of free runs, especially in the first inning. We came out and we weren’t quite ready to get back on the field after last night, and it showed,” Hill said. “We came out a little nonaggressive and we weren’t able to make plays. We gave up too much early.”

Lange (3-2) gave up three base runners in each of the first and third innings, but just five the rest of the way. And he helped himself.

With two on and one out in the seventh, he made a spectacular diving catch of a pop-up in foul territory, and nearly doubled the runner off first base.

“Rivalry game, it’s always going to be close,” said Lange, who will play basketball at Luther College. “Some of the stuff wasn’t working for me today, but we managed with other pitches.”

Lange also went 2 for 4 at the plate and reached base three times, as did Ashley. Jason Phillips reached base four times with two walks for Plano, which can still claim second place in the KRC with a win Thursday at Sandwich.

“We didn’t reach our initial goal, but we have to keep at it and not let that get to us,” Hill said. “We want to continue to play our best baseball down the stretch.”