Sandburg pitchers cool off Andrew

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Andrew had been one of the hottest-hitting teams this postseason, recording 30 runs during its marvelous three-game winning streak.

But Sandburg's Troy Jozsa has a way of cooling off even the most potent bats, Andrew's included.

The Triton-bound senior scattered seven hits and struck out six to improve to 11-0 as Sandburg dumped Andrew 4-1 Saturday in the Class 4A Andrew Sectional final.

The sectional title is the sixth in eight years for the No. 1-ranked Eagles (30-2), who won the Class AA state championship in 2002. Their reward will be a highly anticipated supersectional encounter with No. 3 St. Rita (32-6), which downed Mount Carmel 3-1, in the Crestwood Supersectional at 7 p.m. Monday.

"Andrew¹s a real good team, and they've been hot," Jozsa said. "I tried to hit my spots, and the defense played well."

The Thunderbolts (19-16) had their chances but continually failed to produce the big hit.

The game started off fine for Andrew, which jumped on Jozsa in the first inning. Matt Healy reached on a fielder's choice, stole second and third base and scored on a single up the middle by Jeff Zimmerman for a 1-0 lead.

Chris Berardi followed with another single to put runners on first and second base with two outs. But Jozsa got out of the minor jam.

The Eagles tied the game at 1-1 in the third. Matt Mistretta led off with a single against starter Harry Doherty and eventually scored on a single to center field by Nick Kujawa.

Andrew had nearly extended the lead in the third when Zimmerman drilled a ball that nearly left the yard, but Sandburg center fielder Tony Stramaglia made a nice catch at the wall.

Even so, Andrew had a golden opportunity to seize control in the top of the fourth. Berardi led off with a single, and Dan Eliopulos followed with a double to left field to put runners on second and third with no outs. Steve Litko then hit a laser right at second baseman Ian O¹Connor, who flipped to Kujawa at second to double off Eliopulos. Jozsa then struck out Nick Martin to end the inning.

"That double play was game-changing," Sandburg coach Doug Sutor said. "One of my assistants asked if I was going to play the infield in, and I decided to keep them back at normal depth. If the infield's in, we probably don't catch that ball and they score two runs. That was just dumb luck on my part."

Sandburg scored all the runs it would need in its half of the fourth. Alex Kazmierski drove home one run with a double, O¹Connor drove in another with a single, and Doherty forced in another run when he walked Brant Valech with the bags jammed to make it 4-1.

Andrew put together a rally in the seventh. After Jozsa, who threw 102 pitches, walked Gary Grenda leading off the inning, Sutor went to his bullpen and summoned Phil Piecuch. The senior lefty walked the only batter he faced, Kyle Bogdal, to put runners on first and second base with the T-bolts' Nos. 2, 3 and 4 hitters ready to dig in.

Sutor then called on Lucas Fritsch, who induced a pair of flyouts and struck out Zimmerman looking at a heater on the outside corner to end the game.

"Our guys battled, but we just didn't capitalize on our opportunities," said Andrew coach Dave DeHaan, who watched his team strand nine runners. "I thought we were going to come back in the seventh and find a way. We just didn't capitalize.

"Sandburg's a very, very, very good team. Jozsa's one of the top pitchers around, and then they bring in a kid at the end (Fritsch), and I'm like, 'You've got to be kidding me.' That kid was just as good."

Despite not having their top two pitchers available to start, the T-bolts remained a big hit away from pulling off another upset. Doherty, Tom Durkin, Matt Shanahan and Brett Maus tamed the Eagles bats, for the most part.

Sandburg registered eight hits, led by O¹Connor's 3-for-4 effort and Kujawa's 1-for-2 performance that included two walks.

"This is pretty darn exciting," Kujawa said. "We knew Andrew had momentum from the games they were coming off. But we stuck to our plan, which is good pitching and good defense."