Baseball: Tunink’s homers power Newman into 1A supersectional

PEARL CITY – Wheaties might be the breakfast of champions, but Brendan Tunink proved Saturday that breakfast pizza from Casey’s is the choice for sluggers.

After consuming a few slices, the Newman junior and Notre Dame commit crushed home runs in each of his first three at bats, driving in six runs in the process, and propelling the Comets to a 10-7 win over the Dakota Indians in the Class 1A Pearl City Sectional championship game.

[ Photos from Newman vs. Dakota baseball sectional final ]

The Comets (21-8) advance to Monday’s 1A Rockford Supersectional at 10 a.m., where they will play Chicago Hope Academy, a 3-2 winner over the host team in the Harvest Christian Academy Sectional final.

“I’ve never had three before; I have had two,” Tunink said of hitting three homers to help the Comets to their third consecutive sectional title. “I was just feeling it today. I got a brand-new bat. We had Casey’s breakfast pizza today, we might have to do that again on Monday.”

“He makes me look good,” Newman coach Kenny Koerner said. “He’s a special athlete, having a special year. He was completely locked in when we saw him this morning for breakfast, and he was ready to go.”

Dakota scored three runs in the top of the first on a three-run home run by James Eyster off Newman starter Nolan Britt. But the Comets responded quickly against Dakota’s Brody Kenney.

Garret Matznick doubled on the first pitch of the bottom of the first, moved to third on a wild pitch, and then scored on a single by Kyle Wolfe. That brought up Tunink, who obliterated a 2-1 pitch to left-center field.

“Right off the bat, sometimes you just know it,” Tunink said, “and I felt that one. I knew right away that was gone.”

“It was huge to come out and score in the first,” Koerner said. “We knew these are long games, and I thought coming into today that it was going to take 12 runs. It seems like a lot of runs, but I thought both teams were going to score a lot today.”

Matznick and Wolfe were along for the ride in the second when Tunink hit a thunderous blast well over the right-field fence in the second inning, putting Newman up 6-3.

“I love it,” Wolfe said. “I just have to get to first base, and then I just walk around the rest of the bases because Brendan just kept hitting homers.”

After a shaky first, Britt settled down for the second and third innings before an error opened the door for Dakota rally in the fourth. Braxton Neidermeier reached to start the inning when Newman’s Isaiah Williams couldn’t hang onto the ball at first base on a close play. Tommy Bowman followed with a single, and both runners moved up a base on a balk before Avery Bowers singled them both in.

Kaidyn Neidermeier and Eyster added RBI singles before Britt was removed from the game with one out in the fourth and Dakota leading 7-6. Koerner handed the ball to Wolfe, a senior stalwart, with the bases loaded and one out.

“He’s a senior and he’s battle-tested,” Koerner said. “As a sophomore, he won regional and sectional games. As a junior, he won regional and sectional games. Kid doesn’t have a ton of velocity, but he mixes his pitches so well.”

Wolfe induced a flyout to left field that wasn’t deep enough to drive in a run and a grounder to shortstop to get out the jam. Wolfe (8-1) pitched three more scoreless innings to secure the win.

“I was just taking it pitch-by-pitch,” Wolfe said. “I was just trying to be the best that I can on every single pitch. When I execute pitches, good things happen. Coming in there and not allowing any more runs was huge for us, and huge for our momentum.”

“We were really working off-speed today,” catcher Jaesen Johns said. “We were talking before the game that we had a really good scouting report. One of our coaches came down and watched their game the other day, and he said off-speed was what we had to pound and what we had to work. When Kyle’s pitching, you just have all the confidence in the world. He’s been great all year.”

Tunink came to the plate with one out and no one on in the fourth, and the Indians tried their luck again. He tied the score with a high fly ball that kept sailing in the wind and landed beyond the center-field fence.

The go-ahead run came later in the inning without the aid of a hit. Britt reached after being hit by a pitch, moved to second on a balk, and then stole third base before scoring on a ground ball by Garet Wolfe that was bobbled by the shortstop.

Tunink came to the plate in the fifth with Williams and Matznick on base, but Dakota wasn’t going to take any chances. The Indians intentionally walked him to get to cleanup hitter Johns.

Johns drove a single to center to score two more insurance runs to put Newman up 10-7.

“They’ve been doing it all year,” Johns said. “Tunink is a phenomenal hitter, and he had three home runs today. It happened against Pearl City too, where they walked him with two outs and I got a hit. I had all the confidence that it would happen again, and I came through.”