Class 2A IHSA State Baseball: Joliet Catholic squelches another opponent in reaching state final

PEORIA — Run prevention isn’t the most glamorous trait a baseball team can have.

But the Joliet Catholic baseball team is currently making that skill look very pretty.

The Hilltoppers string of consecutive postseason games without allowing an opponent to score ended at four games on Friday night at the IHSA Class 2A State Tournament, but the stinginess remained as Joliet Catholic earned a 4-1 win over Columbia in the semifinal round to earn its place in the state title game.

Joliet Catholic (25-11) will face Richmond-Burton (32-5) in Saturday’s State Championship game which is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. Columbia will meet Maroa-Forsyth for third place at approximately at 3 p.m.

The Hilltoppers opened the scoring when Aidan Voss reached via a fielder’s choice with two out. Voss promptly made himself a scoring option by stealing second, then swiping third to give himself an easy jaunt home when Jackson Cullen ripped a single up the middle to put the Hilltoppers up 1-0.

“TJ has come out in the playoffs and shoved against everyone, I knew we only needed one,” Cullen said. “Unfortunately they got that run back, but getting that run first was huge for us. So all I was trying to do was put the ball in play, maybe find a hole. We hadn’t really been finding holes all game.”

Based on the fact that the Hilltopper pitching staff had strung together four consecutive games without allowing a run in the postseason, logic dictated that one run would be enough to hold up.

And for awhile it looked like it might, especially with ace TJ Schlageter on his top form.

“I’m sure TJ knew it was his last start of the season so he was going to leave it all out there,” Joliet Catholic coach Jared Voss said. “He set the tone for us and he pitched his heart out.”

Although Schlageter’s bid to throw another postseason no-hitter quickly came to an end as Dom Voegele ripped a one-out double in the top of the first inning. But Schlageter rebounded nicely from the blemish on his near spotless postseason record to strike out the next two batters.

“I was kind of surprised,” Schlageter said of Voegle’s first inning double. “But the main thing for me was to make sure I bounced back from that. Attack the zone make sure they don’t get anything more moving forward. The biggest thing for me coming into this game was making sure that my three pitches were as sharp as they could be.”

That started a string of nine consecutive batters retired for Schlageter until once again he ran into his nemesis, Voegle, who greeted him at the top of the fourth inning with a stand-up triple. Schlaegter’s lenghty postseason scoreless streak came to an end on a sacrifice fly from Logan Mueller two batters later.

Joliet Catholic finally found its offensive groove in the fifth inning, but still needed some two-out heroics to break the deadlock. Tommy Kemp led off the frame with a single and was bunted over to second by Danny O’Brien.

A fly out followed, but Cullen delivered again, his second two-out RBI to put Joliet Catholic ahead 2-1. Luka Radicevich tacked on another run to stretch the lead to 3-1 with a triple and Radicevich score after Trey Swiderski reached via an error to push the lead to 4-1.

“He’s been like that all playoffs,” Radicevich said of Cullen. “We have two outs and he gets on. I don’t even have a chance to do what I did without him.”

With a lead of three runs, Schlageter worked his way through the sixth with limited issues and finally retired Voegele as well. He’d end his day with eight strikeouts against just three hits before giving way to Dom Coda, who powered his way through the seventh inning with three strikeouts to secure the Hilltoppers spot in the state title contest.

It was a frustrating day for Columbia (25-10), who netted only one other hit from anyone other than Voegele.

“I thought we took really good at bats up and down the lineup, and we knew it was going to be an uphill battle,” Columbia coach Neal O’Donnell said. “Against a team like that, you know it is going to have to be a low scoring game and maybe they make a mistake or we get a big hit in a big situation but scoring one run at the end of the day isn’t going to do it.”