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Prairie Ridge picks off Marian Catholic
With Brett Lilek on the mound for Marian Catholic, Prairie Ridge knew it had a battle on its hands on Wednesday night.
Even so, this was probably more adversity than the Wolves anticipated. But they managed to persevere through control problems and the challenge of facing the state’s top prospect in the Class of 2012, winning 3-1 in the Phil Lawler Classic semifinals at Benedictine University in Lisle.
Prairie Ridge (38-20) will play Lincoln-Way North (20-3) for the unofficial summer state title at 7:30 p.m. Thursday back at Benedictine. Marian finished a breakthrough summer season at 17-11.
The Wolves managed to win despite allowing 11 walks, mainly because they picked off three Marian baserunners.
“I think we have one of the best defensive programs in Illinois,” said Prairie Ridge lefty Tyler Tennant, who pitched the final 1 2/3 innings to save the win for starter Mike Reitcheck. “That’s our main focus for pitching. We really want to get outs as best we can.”
And Marian wants to avoid giving away outs, which it has been mostly able to do in its best postseason showing – spring or summer – since coach Phil Wail took over in the spring of 2008.
“To be honest, you make that many mental mistakes, you don’t deserve to win a ballgame,” Wail said. “We’re not good enough to go into games and just do anything to win.”
Lilek, an Arizona State recruit whose fastball was clocked at 90 mph Wednesday, pitched a six-hitter with one walk and eight strikeouts.
“Brett kept us in it,” Wail said. “We should have won the ballgame easily, but we didn’t pick him up.”
That’s because the Wolves got hits when they needed them, including a big night from first baseman Lucas Keller (3-for-3, double, 2 RBI).
“The left-hander was lights out,” Prairie Ridge coach Glen Pecoraro said of Lilek. “We talked about being aggressive. We did just enough to win it.”
That included left fielder Christian Blatner’s diving catch of Kyle Fitzgerald’s sinking liner with the tying runs on base and two out in the top of the seventh. Pecoraro remembered a similar play this spring, when Blatner just missed a similar catch.
“I was so jacked to see him get this one,” the coach said.
Marian got its only run on Pat Swanson’s one-out homer in the seventh inning. Before that, the Spartans’ best chance to score came in the fifth, when they drew four walks. But Rob Cifelli was picked off first for the second out and Marian left the bases loaded.
Swanson was picked off in the third and Pat Schmidt was picked off in the second.
Prairie Ridge took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second on a singles by Corey Peterson, a wild pitch, Nick Samuels’ groundout and Keller’s RBI single.
The Wolves made it 2-0 in the fourth when Samuels singled, advanced to third on Keller’s double and scored on the second of Lilek’s two balks.
Keller drove in another run in the sixth when his single scored Samuels, who walked and advanced on a wild pitch.
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