Baseball: Historic Season Ends for St. Francis

St. Francis began the state playoffs as the third seed in its regional.

By the time the Spartans’ unexpectedly long postseason run ended, they had made school history and thrown a scare into a much more accomplished team.

The end came Monday at Zimmerman Stadium in Naperville when Nazareth rallied from a 4-0 deficit to eliminate St. Francis 5-4 at the Class 3A North Central College Supersectional. The Roadrunners (34-5) will take on Oak Forest in Friday’s state semifinals at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.

The Spartans (25-13) knocked off Montini to win their first regional title since 2003, then beat Ridgewood and Richmond-Burton to capture the first sectional championship in school history.

“(We’re) happy but not satisfied,” St. Francis pitcher Eric Stout said. “We definitely wish we could have come out with a win but we had a great season. We made school history so we’re all proud of that.

“The last two weeks were unbelievable. Everything just started clicking. We became hot at the right time. It’s a bunch of guys we’ll never forget.”

Stout (10-3), who will pitch for Butler next year, turned in a workmanlike effort on the mound, throwing 120 pitches in a complete-game effort. He gave up only five hits and struck out six but also walked five and hit three batters, two of whom scored.

“We know what we’re going to get out of Eric,” St. Francis coach Rich Janor said. “He’s going to give us everything he has. Obviously his last game as a senior and he left it all on the field. He did everything he could to get us where we wanted to be. It just didn’t go our way.”

For a long while, it appeared things would go the Spartans way. Making their supersectional debut, they grabbed a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first as Stout singled and courtesy runner Jake Gorski later scored on a wild pitch.

St. Francis extended the lead to 4-0 by scoring three times in the third off Grand Valley State-bound Patrick Kelly. The Spartans batted around in the frame and got five hits, all singles.

The big blows were run-scoring singles by Jack Petrando and Joel Birch, and Ryan  Acciavatti came home on a passed ball.

That made the Roadrunners nervous and for good reason. Nazareth, which set a school record for victories when it beat Riverside-Brookfield in the sectional final, was appearing at Zimmerman Stadium for the third straight year.

Two years ago, the Roadrunners blew a big lead and lost to underdog Grayslake Central 8-7. In 2010, Nazareth again was heavily favored but coughed up a late lead and fell 8-6 to Marian Central. Now a third straight upset was in the making.

“Of course you’re going to have little butterflies (when) you’re down 4-0,” Nazareth shortstop Mike Barajas said. “But we stayed focused. We knew if we work hard, we play our game, things will fall our way.”

Barajas was a big reason why they did. After Nazareth got on the board with an unearned run in the fourth, Barajas belted a two-run triple during a three-run rally in the fifth that tied the game at 4-4.

Nazareth then took advantage of Stout’s wildness to push across the go-ahead run in the sixth. After retiring the first two batters, Stout hit Kelly and Matthew Radford, the No. 8 and No. 9 hitters, and Kane Lombardo followed with an RBI single to left that just snuck under the glove of a diving Birch.

“It took us a while to get over this hump,” Barajas said. “We’ve been here three years. We have a little bit more experience than the other team and it really paid off in the end.”
“I just wanted to lay it all out on the field,” Stout said. “(Made a) couple bad pitches, but hats off to them. They hit my pitch. Played a helluva game.           

“They definitely did not get lucky. They’re a great team. I hope they win (state). We’re pulling for them.”

The Spartans had two more chances to get back in the game. Zimmerman led off the sixth with a single and one out later was bunted to second by Acciavatti.

That’s when Nazareth summoned ace Ryan Powers. The Miami (Ohio) recruit had just one day of rest after throwing 6 1/3 innings in Saturday’s sectional title game, but he nailed down his fourth save by throwing the final 1 1/3 innings in this one.

Powers’ first pitch hit Jack Roback, putting the potential go-ahead run on base, but the 6-5 righty induced Petrando to hit a chopper to third, where Anthony Baldassano outraced Zimmerman to the bag at third for the force.

Powers then retired the side in order in the seventh to finish off a 12-pitch outing.

“Yesterday I knew I had to get myself ready in case I was needed for today,” Powers said. “Yesterday was a day (to) rest, get my legs back, ice my arm, pretty much get myself prepared for the next game, which was today. After going to my bullpen and playing catch and with the help of a little bit of adrenaline I was able to come in and record the last four outs.”

Powers, who along with Lombardo had two hits, believes experience is what made the difference for the Roadrunners, who won the IHSBCA summer league title last year. He started the supersectional game against Grayslake Central as a sophomore.

“That experience is just invaluable when you’re in situations like this,” Powers said. “Of course you hate to (be trailing). You start to put pressure on yourself, but that’s where the experience comes in.

“We’ve been in this spot for the past two years and with (capturing the) summer (tournament) we finally got a little taste of the winning mentality and how it feels to get over that hump.”

The Spartans have yet to experience that joy, but Powers had nothing but good things to say about them.

“You have to give St. Francis credit,” Powers said. “They came in, hit the ball and had no pressure today, (played) just like they’ve been here many times before, so kudos to them. They’re a great a ballclub and Stout really pitched great today until the third time around (the lineup).”

Janor was pleased with his team’s effort.

“Baseball is a game of inches and we feel like we were right there,” Janor said. “We stayed according to the script early. We put up a big inning early which is what we’ve been talking about all week is what we wanted to do.

“Nazareth was real resilient today. They battled back. You have to give them credit. They were down four. I’m proud of the way our guys battled today.”