Walther hits stride at right time

Walther Lutheran was an afterthought when the Class 2A baseball tournament began.

Not anymore. The Broncos are just two wins away from capturing their first state championship after recording four straight come-from-behind victories, including three shocking upsets.

Walther (17-14) will play a team with a similar pedigree, DuQuoin, in the first state semifinal at 3 p.m. Friday at Peoria’s O’Brien Field.

How did the Broncos, who began the playoffs with a losing record, recover from a 5-11 start?

“We had lost to Chicago Christian in a close game and came back and beat them at our place and that was the first time we had won a big (close) game,” Walther coach Matt Tuomi said. “After that the little things we did to lose games didn’t seem to hurt us so much anymore.”

After rallying to beat Immaculate Conception, the team that eliminated them from last year’s playoffs, 6-5 in nine innings in the regional final, the Broncos stunned Westminster Christian 6-4 in eight innings and Aurora Christian 5-4 in sectional action and then knocked out Herscher (31-5) 9-8 in the supersectional.

Walther trailed 8-2 against Herscher, but scored two in the fifth and five in the sixth to win. Junior Chris Stevens pitched 4 1/3 innings of relief to get his first win and hit the game-tying sacrifice fly.

“(Getting to state) is a very, very big deal for us because from the start of the season that was our main goal,” Stevens said. “We know we had some ups and downs in the season and we knew that once we came around as a team, nobody was going to be able to really beat us. We caught a hot streak coming in and it’s still going. We just want to keep it going downstate and try to get first.”

The fact that nobody else expected the Broncos to get this far doesn’t faze them.

“We have been looking at all the press,” Stevens said. “They were looking past us against Westminster and (said) Aurora Christian was going to beat us because of their pitching and just stuff like that. We just said, ‘Okay, bring it on.’ We love a challenge. We like fast pitching. We’re battled-tested so we just battle and play hard every game.”

Stevens (.510 average, 7 homers, 39 RBI), junior catcher Josh Galven (.371, 5 HR, 37 RBI) and senior pitcher/centerfielder Dan LoDolce (.383, 7 HR, 37 RBI) will be keys for Walther. Galven drove in three runs, including LoDolce with the game-winner, against Herscher. LoDolce belted the go-ahead home run against Aurora Christian and also got the save in that game and against Herscher. LoDolce is expected to start one of the two games this weekend.

DuQuoin (18-12) lost seven straight early in the season but is riding a 13-game winning streak. The Indians are led by senior pitcher Trent Bigham (8-4, 3.05 ERA; .344 average, 26 RBI). Defending champion Teutopolis (30-2) takes on first-time semifinalist Prophetstown (25-5) in the other semifinal.

“I don’t know anything about any of the other teams down there,” said Tuomi, who was an assistant coach when the Broncos finished third in 2007 in their only previous state finals appearance. “To us all the press was focused around us beating Westminster. Everyone said when we beat Westminster that Aurora is the team to beat. When we beat Aurora they said Herscher’s the team to beat.

“So I’m sure they’ll tell us (DuQuoin) is the team to beat but that’s fine. We prefer sneaking up on people.”

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