Roth Stymies Kits In Regular Season Finale

Evanston’s hitters haven’t done much against run-of-the-mill pitching in the Central Suburban League South division this spring.

And against a future Division I hurler Friday in the regular season baseball finale, they had almost no chance.

Saint Patrick right-hander Patrick Roth struck out 10 in his 5-inning mound stint and personally called a halt to Evanston’s four game winning streak in a 5-1 triumph for the Shamrocks. The Wildkits, now 16-17 on the year, will need to win the Class 4A Maine South Regional tournament next week to avoid their first losing season since 2009.

Head coach Frank Consiglio isn’t sure that can be done. But he can be sure the Wildkits won’t face a hurler the caliber of Roth, a junior who has already committed to pitch at Michigan State University, at any point in the postseason.

Roth touched 90 miles-per-hour on a radar gun Friday while mowing down the Kits. He permitted just one run, when Owen Vander Velde doubled off the Blue Monster Wall in left field to drive in twin brother Cole, who had singled.

In one stretch Roth struck out 6 of the 7 Wildkit hitters he faced, and reliever Jason Richard finished off the win for the Shamrocks (17-15) with two scoreless innings and three strikeouts of his own.

Evanston also committed three errors and Consiglio said he wasn’t fooled by the fact that his up-and-down squad had managed to string together consecutive victories against Carmel (6-4), Niles West (8-6), Maine East (12-3) and Lincoln Park (6-1).

The learning curve is still steep for a young roster that will have to over-achieve next week to keep the season alive past next Thursday’s regional opener against Chicago Von Steuben at Maine South.

“Momentum is huge when you’re going into the postseason, but this doesn’t feel like the typical May momentum we have going into the playoffs,” admitted the veteran coach. “We’re not playing up to our usual standards in the month of May. We’ll be playing for our lives next Thursday. We could win --- or we could go home.

“We still have to tighten up every aspect of our game (hitting, defense, pitching). Their pitcher (Roth) was one of the top three we’ve faced all year. Aces do that to you, and he’s a legitimate ace. When he wasn’t able to execute with his fastball early in the game, he hit the switch and went off speed and we didn’t adjust. We really struggled to put the ball in play.

“Against a kid like that, if you miss on his fastball early in the count, you have no chance because then you’re chasing with the count in his favor.”

The contrast between Roth and Evanston sophomore starter Elliot Paul couldn’t have been more pronounced. Paul has emerged as Evanston’s No. 1 starter but most of his appearances on the mound have taken on a Jekyll-and-Hyde quality that hasn’t escaped notice from Consiglio.

“Elliot has been like two different pitchers for us this year,” the coach declared. “When there’s no one on base he competes and really attacks the (strike) zone. But with runners on base he doesn’t trust his stuff, he nibbles and tries to get hitters to chase instead of just getting outs.”

Paul hurt his own cause with a throwing error to the plate that chased home two runs for the visitors in the top of the second inning, after an RBI single by Jalen Gonzalez had already knotted the score at 1-1. That was all the run sport Roth required, although the winners tacked on solo runs in the fifth and sixth against reliever Johnny Kellams.

ETHS sophomore Ryan Rappoport went 2-for-2 with a walk for the home team. His leadoff walk, a single by Dion Lane Jr. and another walk to Cole Vander Velde brought the tying run to the plate in the bottom of the seventh before Owen Vander Velde rapped into a forceout to end the game.