Coalers' comeback whips Wildcats

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It was just another Wilmington vs. Coal City baseball showdown Saturday afternoon at Cullick Field, but this time a Class 2A regional title was on the line with a trip to next week’s Reed-Custer Sectional awaiting the winner.

The two schools were meeting for the proverbial “umpteenth” time in a traditional neighborhood rivalry and this one did not disappoint until the final out as second-seeded Coal City emerged victorious with a come-from-behind, 4-3 decision over the top-seeded Wildcats.

Wilmington (20-5) never trailed until the seventh. The Wildcats broke a scoreless tie with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third, when they were finally able to get some hits off Coal City senior starting pitcher Taylor Olson. Don Lacy, the No. 9 hitter in the Wildcats’ lineup, started the inning with a single and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Jake Van Duyne.

Richard Heintz walked and Cort Scheel drilled a hard single to third base to load the bases with only one out.

Olson nearly worked his way out of the jam, striking out his counterpart Ty Anderson for the second out and getting two strikes on Colin Webb. But Webb reached out and slapped a 2-2 pitch through the left side of the infield to give the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.

Coal City (17-13) managed to get one of those runs back in the top of the fourth when Kevin Gabeheart laced a two-out single to center field that plated Brandon Tidaback, who started the inning by drawing a walk.

Wilmington had excellent chances in both the fourth and fifth innings to add to its lead, but could not get the timely hits that it needed.

The Wildcats wasted a one-out double by Kyle Adermann in the fourth and put runners on second and third with nobody out in the fifth. Those two runners — Heintz and Scheel, who each reached with singles — watched as Olson struck out a pair and covered first base himself on a grounder to second that ended the Wildcats’ threat.

The Coalers tied the game in the sixth with Gabeheart collecting his second RBI single and driving home Ryan Collier, who started the rally with a single.

Coal City finally took advantage of a tiring Anderson in the seventh as Tom Taylor led off with a single and moved to third on a long double by Olson. VanDuyne moved in from center to relieve Anderson. Collier followed with a two-strike grounder that slipped past the pulled in infield into left-center and scored the two for Coal City’s first lead.

Wilmington threatened in its half of the seventh, turning a pair of walks and a base hit by Josh Bailey into one run. But Coal City ace Colt Smith, who relieved Olson with one out after the first walk of the inning, then struck out Steve Liaromatis for the third out and the regional title.

“The kids played a great game,” Coal City coach Jerry McDowell said. “We have been up and down all year long and have finally started to come together here at the end of the season. We had some guys that were out at the start of the season and it has taken some time for us to piece it all together and get into a winning mode.”

“Olson was making just his third start of the season and he did a fantastic job against a very good hitting Wilmington team. We knew he was tiring and we were going to give him until one runner got on in the seventh. When that happened we brought Colt back and he closed the door.”

Smith, who earned the save, had pitched seven innings on Thursday in Coal City’s semifinal win over Seneca.

Wilmington coach Chad Farrell touched on his team’s missed opportunities.

“We had a couple of great chances in the middle innings to make it a 4-1 or 5-1 game but just could not get the big hits when we needed them,” said Farrell. “I was very pleased with the way Anderson pitched. For a sophomore to come up big in a regional final on the road against a good team like Coal City is quite impressive.”

The Coalers will face Watseka in a sectional semifinal at Reed-Custer on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Watseka won its regional with an 11-0 victory over Paxton-Buckley-Loda.