Baseball: Joliet Catholic successfully defends 2A title

PEORIA – Joliet Catholic knew a repeat Class 2A state title wasn’t likely going to come as easily as it had last season as it rolled to the crown.

But the Hilltoppers seemed to believe heading into the weekend’s state tournament if they could find a way to get themselves into the title game they’d be able to cobble something together that would work.

An adaptable plan was what turned out to be needed as the Hilltoppers patched together just enough to allow them to claim a 4-2 victory over a feisty Columbia squad in the Class 2A state championship game Saturday night at Peoria’s Dozer Park.

“We just put the ball in the hands of the seniors,” Joliet Catholic coach Jared Voss said. “Nate (Ciemny) and Michael (Tuman) both did a great job and held them to like two hits. For Nate to come out and then Michael to come in and relieve, it is a game of pitching and we had a great 1-2 punch.”

For Joliet Catholic (26-8-1) it was the school’s second consecutive state championship and fifth overall in baseball, joining title runs in 1994 (Class AA), 2009 (Class 3A), 2013 (Class 3A) and 2022 (Class 2A). The fifth title also ties Providence Catholic for the most baseball state titles for an individual program in state history.

Joliet Catholic jumped all over Columbia starting pitcher Lucas Riebeling.

Tommy Kemp led off the inning with a single and after an out was recorded, Jake Troyner reached on an Eagle fielding error. Then after Riebeling was able to retire the next batter, he couldn’t shut the Hilltoppers off after he allowed back-to-back two-out hits to Vinnie Spotofora and Brett Hulbert.

Hulbert then helped manufacture another Joliet Catholic run by attempting a steal of second base. The throw was well off line, which allowed Spotofora to saunter in from third base undeterred and set the Hilltoppers up with a 3-0 lead to hand over to Ciemny, who had not started a game in the postseason prior to getting the call to start the state title game.

Ciemny may not have started during the postseason, but he was spectacular in relief appearances during the run and had a stellar effort in Joliet Catholic’s win over Hall in the supersectional.

He came out firing, facing the minimum over the first three innings. Allowing just a two-out walk to Alex Schreckenberg before he promptly picked him off leaning the wrong way off first base.

Even though Ciemny was breezing along, Joliet Catholic added on more insurance. Yet another two-out hit plated a run in the fourth after Troyner walked, stole a base, and after a groundout, Spotofora lashed a single to left to make it 4-0.

“It was about line drives for us,” Spotofora said. “Hitting the ball and trying to make them make plays.”

That insurance turned out to be needed as Columbia showed no signs of being willing to succumb.

Ciemny walked Jack Steckler to start the fourth inning and then allowed his first hit of the game as Dom Voegele one-hopped the fence for a ground-rule double. A wild pitch allowed Steckler to score Columbia’s first run and a RBI groundout from Schreckenberg halved the Joliet Catholic lead at 4-2.

Ciemny departed after issuing a leadoff walk in the fifth, giving way to Tuman in a reversal of roles from previous games in the postseason where Ciemny tended to relieve Tuman.

“I gave it my all,” Ciemny said. “I think I ran out of gas a little. I was really only throwing two pitches and the fastball when I was spotting it right, they couldn’t hit it.”

Tuman started the appearance with a little bit of a wobble by plunking Steckler, but got huge back-to-back strikeouts to get out of the jam, including one of Voegele, Columbia’s most potent offensive threat, and finished with a flourish, retiring the side in order in both the sixth and seventh innings to secure the crown for the Hilltoppers.

“I had a bad start the last time out, but I had been told that I was going to get a chance to pitch in the championship, so I pitched how I had to,” Tuman said. “I got nine straight outs, so I did what I had to do.”

Despite the fact Joliet Catholic was defending its state championship of a year ago, the core of this roster was largely different than the one that captured the title in 2022.

“It was a different team,” Voss said. “From a core lineup, we really only had two guys back and then T.J. (Schlageter) on the mound, we were just so senior dominated then. This group had a couple of juniors, some freshmen, a few sophomores contribute and hopefully we can keep that momentum going.”