Baseball: Sycamore edges Burlington Central 1-0 in 12 innings for Class 3A Sycamore Sectional title

SYCAMORE – Sycamore pitcher Kyle Prebil admitted that fatigue was creeping up on him as he battled Burlington Central into the 12th inning.

“Of course [I was tired],” Prebil said. “Yeah, of course. You have to come out and give everything every inning, not give an inch to these guys. These guys are amazing. They can really stick. Just putting everything I can into for this team.”

Prebil threw his 112th pitch in six innings at 10:38 p.m. Friday to Central’s Chase Powrozek with two outs and the bases loaded.

Powrozek lifted the ball into left field, where the Spartans’ Tyler Lojko caught it to end the marathon of a Class 3A Sycamore Sectional baseball championship with a 1-0 win for the hosts at Sycamore Park. Sycamore (25-7) advances to Monday’s 6 p.m. Geneseo Supersectional against Morris.

“It was an incredible baseball game,” Spartans coach Jason Cavanaugh said. “People who don’t understand baseball don’t realize how intense a 0-0 game is. It looks boring to people who don’t know baseball. But people who know baseball understand the game can change on every single pitch.

“There was 370 pitches in the game today, not many of them hit very hard. All four pitchers were unhittable, were outstanding in the game. Tyler Townsend pitches six innings, and I’ve never had a reliever throw 112 pitches before. I don’t know if that’s ever happened.”

Sycamore’s Townsend and Prebil combined for 18 strikeouts; Central’s Michael Person and Brady Gilroy fanned 17 between them. Person struck out 11, allowed two hits and let only two runners past first base in eight innings.

The Spartans finally broke through in the top of the 12th with a walk, a fielder’s choice and an error that put runners on first and second. Central nearly turned a double play that would have wiped out the lead runner.

Leadoff man Collin Severson singled to left field to score Will Klumpp with the game’s only run. It was Sycamore’s fourth hit of the game.

“It’s kind of surreal, to be honest,” Rockets coach Kyle Nelson said. “At some point there, I didn’t know what inning it was. I felt like it was the same huddle every inning, ‘We just need to scratch one across. We need a big hit here.’

“The guys on the mound just battled today on both sides. They got the big hit today and we didn’t.”

The Rockets (25-10) were not done after Sycamore’s run in the top of the 12th.

Zane Pollack led off with a walk and Person lifted a blooper to right that Klumpp grabbed with a sliding catch. Gilroy walked and AJ Person singled to center field to load the bases.

Prebil battled Jake Johnson to a full count before striking him out. As he neared the IHSA pitch limit of 115, Prebil then retired Powrozek to end the 3:36 game.

“Just going out and trying to hit the strike zone so I’m not just lobbing it up there,” Prebil said. “Trying to reach back and give everything I have every pitch and let my boys do work behind me.”

Person, a four-year starter, gave up a double in the first inning and did not allow another hit until the seventh. His pitch count was low enough that he went 7 2/3 innings.

“It was awesome. I wouldn’t ask for anything else,” Person said. “We battled, the defense played great, offense played great. We just couldn’t push one across when we needed to. Brady pitched amazingly out of the pen. We just came up a little short.

“I was just glad I could give my team an opportunity and keep us in the game as long as possible. That happens sometimes, you hit balls right at people and can’t get anything going.”

Central’s best shot came in the fifth when Elliot Alicea singled and Pollack singled with one out, bringing up Person and Gilroy, the Rockets’ Nos. 1 and 2 hitters. Townsend was able to get both looking at a third strike to keep the shutout.

Gilroy entered in the eighth and got the last out with a runner on third.

“In that intensity, I really had to calm down and relax myself,” Gilroy said. “I relaxed, focused in, dialed in my pitches and did what I could to help out. I think I handled it nicely, but we just couldn’t squeak out the win.”

The Rockets, who lost to Sycamore last year in the sectional championship, left the bases loaded in the seventh and the 12th, and had runners on first and third in the eighth inning.

“A lot of it was really good pitching, making good pitches in timely situations,” Cavanaugh said. “They had more chances than we did, but we were able to capitalize in a tough situation.

“When Collin Severson was up, I was pointing at him, ‘You’re the guy.’ He was the guy I wanted up at the plate in this situation. The bobble in left field, I would have sent (Klumpp) no matter what. It’s going to take a perfect throw to get him at the plate. It came through.”