Troyner, Minooka gear up for postseason

Minooka's Jeremy Perez leaps over Plainfield Central's Joel Alejandro to complete the double play.
(Larry Kane/For the Herald News)

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For quite a while now, Minooka has dominated the Southwest Prairie Conference baseball race.

This spring, Plainfield North has been all of that, a most deserving champion. But Minooka has definite plans of its own.

The Indians used the complete-game pitching of senior right-hander Justin Troyner and near-flawless defense Monday to blank Plainfield Central 3-0 and continue the push toward a second-place finish in the league — and more importantly, toward the postseason, which begins next week.

“All the credit goes to Plainfield North,” Minooka coach Jeff Petrovic said. “They have had a great season.

“But I think our team is poised to make some noise, to make a run at the end. We’re playing much, much better defensively now. This is a good club that we have despite not having the record we are used to having.”

The Indians (19-11, 13-5) figure to be a handful in the postseason if for no other reason than the 1-2 punch of junior right-hander Mike Foltynewicz and Troyner on the mound.

Formerly the closer, Troyner (6-2) has become a starter over the latter half of this season. It was his own fault.

“I love Justin in the closer role, but he was throwing the ball too well not to start him,” Petrovic said.

“The way I look at it now, every inning I pitch is a save situation,” Troyner said. “That’s my mentality.”

Plainfield (14-14, 10-8) had a runner reach second base with one out and third with two outs in the first inning, had the bases loaded in the third, a runner on second with one out in the fourth, a runner on second with nobody out and third with one out in the sixth and two runners on after two outs in the seventh. But each time, Troyner met the challenge.

“The big glaring stat is our zero in the RBI column,” Wildcats coach Bob Dobbertin said. “We’ve been doing that lately, leaving a lot of people on base. We had the baserunners today, but we didn’t get them in.”

That’s something Minooka did very well in the bottom of the third inning after the first two hitters were retired. Adam Kruse doubled to right-center field, sophomore third baseman Dakota Brown ripped a run-scoring triple into the right-field corner and Brian Martin dropped an RBI single over the infield to give Troyner and the Indians a 2-0 lead.

“Dakota’s really been hitting the ball lately,” Troyner said of Brown. “The way it worked out, that run he drove in was the only one we needed.”

Troyner thought he had given himself a little insurance in the bottom of the fourth inning. But instead of leaving the yard, his blast to right-center field clanged off the top of the fence for a double.

“Yeah, I definitely thought that was out,” said Troyner, who is looking for his first homer of the season. “It was real close. I thought with the wind behind it, it would go.”

The Indians did add insurance in the sixth as Martin cracked his second single, moved up on a balk and Niko Capodice’s sacrifice and scored on Foltynewicz’s suicide squeeze bunt, which he popped over pitcher Marc Lubawski’s head.

The Wildcats junior right-hander had not had a varsity decision before Monday, but he pitched like a seasoned veteran. He and Troyner both fired six-hitters. Lubawski threw 84 pitches in his six innings of work, while Troyer threw 89 in seven innings.

“Marc’s been starting on weekends,” Dobbertin said. “This was his first time starting in the conference.

“Control has been his issue. They got a couple nice hits off him today, but he threw strikes. And if you’re giving up three runs and going the distance, you’re usually giving yourself a shot to win.”

Four of Minooka’s hits went for extra bases, including a Foltynewicz missile to center field for a double. Andy Garcia, who made a spectacular diving play at second base for Plainfield, had the Wildcats’ only extra-base hit, a double off the right-center field fence in the third inning.

Both teams turned nifty infield double plays in game that lasted barely over an hour and a half. A little different than the first two games of the series, which Minooka won 4-2 in nine innings and 12-11.

“This was different after playing two 8-hour games last week,” Dobbertin said. “This was a good game with some great defensive plays. This week is all about getting ready for the playoffs, and we want to make sure we get on the right streak.”

Central takes on Plainfield South in this week’s conference series, while Minooka battles rival Morris.