Marathon win gives Leyden title

Updated: May 7, 2011 8:28PM

If baseball is a game of inches, Chris Massimillian believed his team lost by 12 of them.

That’s how the Hinsdale South right fielder saw it as Justin Stawychny’s bloop single dropped inside the right-field line to give No. 9 Leyden a 6-5 victory in 12 innings over the visiting Hornets Saturday.

“We lost the game by one foot,” Massimillian said.

Leyden’s victory clinched the West Suburban Gold title for the Eagles (22-1, 15-1). The first of a three-game series against Hinsdale South (14-9, 9-4) decided the conference title, an unlikely scenario since Downers South (14-8, 7-5) was a heavy preseason favorite to win the conference.

But Saturday’s ending wasn’t that simple. If Stawychny’s half-swing would have sent the ball foul, instead of fair, the game would have been tied and extra innings could have continued. Instead, Stawychny’s hit drove in Carlos Olavarria with the game-winning run with two outs.

Olavarria tied the game with an RBI single to left field one batter earlier. The Hornets were one strike away from winning the game before Olavarria’s hit, which came on a 2-2 count. Eric Burger gave up the game-tying and game-winning hits after coming into the 12th inning when Andy Nkansah walked the leadoff hitter.

Nkansah came in for Russ Danielson, who pitched nine innings.

“It’s crazy. Who would have thought we’d be here,” Stawychny said. “It’s awesome to be a part of this.”

Stawychny picked up the victory after coming in for ace Eric Palmer. Leyden rallied in the bottom of the 12th after Hinsdale South took a one-run lead in the top of the inning when Massimillian’s grounder was misplayed for an error by Olavarria. Tyler Langosch scored the go-ahead run from third base.

The Hornets came back to tie the game in the seventh when P.J. Schuster doubled in Sean Beesley to even the game at 4-4. Leyden led in the sixth when Hornets shortstop Nick Sarocco committed an error allowing the lead-run to score.

“That was one heck of a high school baseball game,” Hinsdale South coach Kraig Conyer said. “We had to come back a couple of times. We saw their two best pitchers and we battled through it.”

The Hornets, who already exceeded last year’s nine-win season, nearly became the second team to beat Leyden this season. Downers South defeated the Eagles 6-5 on April 23 in the second game of a doubleheader. Leyden earned the No. 1 seed in the Class 4A Glenbrook South Sectional Friday. It was the first time Leyden has claimed that honor.

The Eagles won their third conference title in coach Gary Wolf’s 22 years.

“We fought for that (sectional seed) toward the end of the season,” Wolf said.

Massimillian won’t forget Saturday’s game for a while although the two teams will meet again at 4:30 p.m. Monday at Leyden and at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in Darien. Saturday’s game was originally a doubleheader, but the second game was postponed due to the length of the first game.

“That was probably the most exciting Hinsdale South game I’ve ever seen,” said Massimillian, who is in his third varsity season.

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