Payback tastes sweet.
One year after New Trier’s baseball team eliminated the winningest team in Evanston history in postseason play, the Wildkits turned the tables on their neighbors to the north.
Evanston erupted for five runs in the top of the 7th inning --- scoring all of them after two outs --- and snapped New Trier’s 30-game winning string with a 6-1 conquest of the Trevians in the semifinals of the Class 4A Lane Tech Sectional tournament Wednesday.
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The stunning triumph sent the jubilant Wildkits (26-7-1) into Saturday’s 1 p.m. championship game against Glenbrook North. The Spartans improved to 25-10-1 after topping Elk Grove Village 7-2 in the other semifinal.
Top-seeded New Trier went to the sidelines with a final record of 33-4. It was also the last game for retiring head coach Mike Napoleon, who leaves as the all-time winningest coach in Illinois High School Association history with exactly 1,000 victories.
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Included in that total was a sectional championship win over Evanston in 2023. The Trevians went on to finish 3rd in the 4A state tournament, claiming a trophy that might otherwise have belonged to ETHS.
Wednesday’s win didn’t wipe out the sting of that season-ending loss --- not completely. But it certainly eased the pain for winning pitcher Braden Grimm, whose 3-run homer in the 7th climaxed Evanston’s rally.
“I haven’t even processed this yet. It will probably sink in after a couple of days,” said Grimm, who struck out eight and scattered five hits before Henry Rouch pitched a scoreless 7th for the winners. “But it feels great to come back and beat our rivals, after they beat us in the playoffs last year.
“Last year was pretty hard for us to get over. That was a really bad loss. But we used it as motivation to work hard, and we knew we’d have a good shot against them today if we played seven innings of good baseball. Winning this one? It helps put last year to bed.”
Evanston prevailed this time around in a scenario that was eerily similar to 2023. The Wildkits defeated New Trier twice during the regular season in 2023 before bowing out in the sectional.
This year, the Trevs won both regular season matchups. In fact, the losers hadn’t dropped a game since March until Wednesday’s meeting with a refuse-to-lose Evanston squad.
“I am so proud of these guys,” said ETHS head coach Frank Consiglio. “Last year really stung because we were the No. 1 seed and we lost on our home field, too. We really wanted another chance against them. We closed the gap on a really good program in one year.
“Over the last month and a half we’ve seen that some (opposing) teams can play with us for a few innings, but it’s really hard for them to play with us for seven innings. When you look at this quality win --- against a quality opponent --- this is one of the best wins ever for our program. It’s right near the top, for me.”
Evanston’s game-winning rally began innocently enough when Owen Vander Velde drew a leadoff walk after falling behind 0-2 in the count against the third New Trier pitcher, Pedro Hernandez. A sacrifice bunt by Jake Kobus pushed Vander Velde to second, but Aaron Shalin tapped to the mound for the second out of the inning.
Then light-hitting Vinny Miller --- the No. 9 hitter in the ETHS batting order --- came through with the biggest hit of his career as he hammered a triple to right center. Hernandez hit Eron Vega with a pitch, Grimm launched a 3-run run shot over the fence in right, and Noah Cryns flipped an RBI double to right for an insurance run.
Miller’s blow came on an 0-1 pitch.
“I just knew we were gonna win this game!” exclaimed the senior catcher. “I knew if we kept putting pressure on New Trier, they’d fold. I got one in my sweet spot --- and I just swung at it.
“This more than makes up for last year. We’ve had it in our heads since then. We had this (beating New Trier) as our goal and we came out and we executed it.”
Miller, a left-handed hitter, only hit at a .230 clip during the regular season but has found his stroke late in the year.
“I definitely didn’t feel too smooth at the dish, but now I have a lot more confidence. I feel a lot more relaxed at this point,” he said. “And we’re still playing.”
“We went from small ball to big ball in that inning,” Consiglio noted. “This group is so confident and so relaxed. They come through big in the big moments.”
Grimm boosted his won-loss record on the mound to 7-1, despite the fact that he couldn’t find command of his slider --- normally of the wipeout variety --- for at least half the game. But even at less than his best, the senior right-hander only permitted a couple of walks and an RBI single by James Novakovic in the 3rd and shut out the Trevians in every other frame.
“I was off the plate to the left with the slider and the fastball was high at first, too,” he said. “The coaches told me I wasn’t finishing the pitches, that I had to start snapping down more. I made the adjustment, and got good results.”
“Braden didn’t have his best stuff today, but he gutted his way through it,” said the ETHS coach. “The second and third time through the lineup Braden just gets tougher. In the big moments, he dominated them and kept us in the game. I think this will go down as one of his best performances.”
Evanston broke through against New Trier lefty Noah Shapo for a run to knot the score at 1-1 in the 5th. Shalin lined a one-out single to left and pinch-runner Caleb Watson came around to score on a bunt single by Miller and Vega’s groundout.
