GBN Edges Kits 2-1 In Sectional Finals

Senior infielder Charlie Kalil summed up seven innings of futility on offense for Evanston’s baseball team Friday in succinct fashion.

“Usually a team punches us and we come right back and punch them,” Kalil said. “Today, we threw jabs. We didn’t have the knockout punch. And it’s so sad when that happens in the playoffs.”

Two days after scoring a decision over sectional heavyweight (and No. 1 seed) New Trier, the Wildkits left nine runners on base and suffered a season-ending 2-1 loss to No. 3 seed Glenbrook North in the championship game of the Class 4A Lane Tech Sectional tournament.

Unable to muster a clutch hit when they needed one, the Wildkits missed out on a golden opportunity to claim just the fourth sectional title in ETHS baseball history. Instead, they bowed out with a final record of 26-8-1.

Glenbrook North, which lost to Evanston twice during the regular season, advances with a 26-10-1 record and will face Conant, an upset winner over Stevenson at the Stevenson Sectional, in Monday’s supersectional in Schaumburg.

Continuing the boxing analogy offered by Kalil, Evanston had GBN starting pitcher Asher Malin and reliever Matthew Ruttkay on the ropes in every inning but the first. The losers put the leadoff man on base in six straight innings --- and only scored once.

The Spartans turned three double plays --- all of them on hard-hit balls right at defenders --- and had just enough offense to keep their season alive.

Head coach Frank Consiglio, who guided ETHS to the sectional crown back in 2014, didn’t expect the season to end like this.

“Give Glenbrook North credit, because they got out of some big jams today,” said Consiglio. “I thought we outplayed them over the last five innings, and I thought it was just a matter of time until something popped for us (on offense). But we couldn’t get a big hit in big spots.

“It just seemed like whenever we hit the ball hard today, we didn’t get rewarded. How many times can you hit the ball on the nose like we did? I’m so proud of these guys. We competed at such a high level, and every inning they went back to work after some really deflating outs. They just kept grinding.”

“All I know is that we pitched well, we defended well, and we hit well at times --- and we got one run. It was just one of those games. It’s not bad luck --- it’s just baseball.”

The Spartans scored single runs against Evanston right-hander Eron Vega in the first and second innings, and only mustered two hits after that. Vega yielded six hits, struck out five, issued one intentional walk and hit two batters to finish the season with a final won-loss record of 8-2.

North broke through in the first when Chase Petersen bunted for a hit and Sam Gaffney and designated hitter Ruttkay also singled. The Kits turned an inning ending double play to end that threat, but in the second Mason Primack doubled over the head of ETHS left fielder Avan Teuer, plating teammate Ryan Block with what turned out to be the winning run.

Vega settled in and faced the minimum number of hitters after that, until the Spartans tried to tack on some insurance in the bottom of the sixth. But after intentionally walking Ethan Bass to load the bases, Vega reached back and struck out the last two batters he faced.

“Eron always gets better as the game goes on,” Consiglio pointed out. “He usually gives up a run early, like today, but he gave us four clean (shutout) innings after that, and that’s all you can ask for. He did the job for us.”

Evanston’s opportunities didn’t just feature putting the leadoff hitter aboard. In the second, third and fourth the Kits placed TWO hitters on base with no outs but couldn’t push anyone home.

In the second, a walk and a hit batter offered promise, but Teuer lined into a double play and Jake Kobus grounded out. The Wildkits teased the big crowd again in the second when Aaron Shalin and Vinny Miller hit back-to-back singles, but Vega smashed a ball to third base for a double play and Braden Grimm flied deep to right field to end that threat.

Spartan righty Malin gets credit for pitching out of a first-and-second scenario to start the fourth. He fanned Owen Vander Velde and Teuer --- he finished with four strikeouts --- and retired Kobus on a grounder to keep the shutout intact.

In the fifth, Shalin doubled off the glove of GBN left fielder Block --- and pinch-runner Caleb Watson stayed put when the next three hitters went down in order.

Evanston finally broke through and chased Malin, whose pitch count was piling up, in the sixth.

Kalil singled to left to start the uprising, and one out later, Vander Velde was hit by a pitch and Teuer worked a walk on a 3-2 pitch to fill the bases. Ruttkay, who started the game at designated hitter. took the mound next and got Kobus to rap into an RBI forceout at second base.

A four-pitch walk to Shalin loaded the bases again. Miller, who drove in the winning run with a triple against New Trier, smacked the first pitch on two hops to the first baseman for the third out.

The seventh brought more heartbreak. Vega walked, and then GBN second baseman Primack turned Grimm’s hot grounder into another twin killing. Kalil chopped an infield single to keep the inning alive, but the season died when Noah Cryns hit a routine grounder to third to end the game.

Consiglio admitted that all that traffic on the basepaths might have produced another run or two with a well-timed bunt. But that’s not the way the Kits played for most of the spring.

“You have to stay true to who you are,” said the veteran coach. “There were times during the year where we’d pick our spots with bunts. A lot of it has to do with who you have due up (in bunting situations). There are certain holes in any lineup where you don’t feel comfortable with a bunt, and usually I want my guys to hit.

“It’s tough when you have runners in scoring all day like that and you don’t score. It’s hard to take. Any time you lose in a sectional championship game, it’s hard. Sometimes, you just hit the ball right at people.”