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Kaneland’s Peters is perfect
Updated: May 26, 2011 10:56PM
The Kaneland Knights are once again chasing the elusive regional championship thanks to a five-inning, perfect game performance out of left-hander Drew Peters in a 17-0 victory over IMSA in Thursday’s Class 3A Sycamore Regional semifinal at Sycamore Park.
The Knights improved to 20-10 and will play the host Spartans on Saturday in the regional final, a hurdle the baseball program has never crossed.
“Our goal this year has always been to win the regional,” Peters said. “This is what we were looking for. Sycamore, they’re a good team, but we believe we can beat them. We’re pumped.”
Peters, who missed several games this season due to off-field accidents and had 14 staples removed from his scalp last week, struck out 10 and allowed only five balls to be hit in play. None left the infield.
“We didn’t expect for him to throw a perfect game or anything like that, and it was one hell of a performance for the kid,” Knights coach Brian Aversa said with a smile. “It’s good to have him back.”
After coaxing two groundouts to end the fourth inning with his perfect game intact, Peters (2-1) said his teammates didn’t exactly follow baseball protocol — instead of being quiet and ignoring him, they rode him, asking if he can finish the job. He did, striking out two in the fifth for his first ever no-hitter.
“I’m glad I’m back now,” said Peters, who has thrown two one-hitters. “I felt good. I knew we were going to hit and with the wind blowing out to right, I knew I had to keep the ball down low. I just felt good. My fastball was really tailing.”
The Knights took advantage of six Titans (6-13) errors, scoring 10 runs (six earned) in the second inning, five unearned runs in the third and two unearned runs in the fourth.
The fielding miscues wore on IMSA starter Neel Patel, who worked a scoreless first.
“Once that happened our guys got down on themselves and weren’t thinking they could make that next play, and our pitcher’s think they have to strike everyone out. It’s a team game,” Titans coach Renard Miller said. “This is not the team that started out this season (5-0). It’s a totally different team. Losing is part of the game, so is winning, but I think the effort wasn’t there. I think mentally we weren’t in the game.”
Kaneland also made an adjustment on the right-hander, after having scouted the Titans twice. Patel is one to throw a first-pitch strike, and the Knights jumped on the first offering on nearly every at-bat in the second and third innings.
“We scouted him and he threw a bunch of first-pitch fastballs and in the second inning our guys had a different approach where hey, we’re looking away, we’re looking first pitch, and we’re going to drive the ball,” Aversa said. “Neel is a good pitcher. I’ll give him credit. He’s a good pitcher and we just hit him well today.”
Cory Landers, Drew French and Brian Dixon all drove in two runs for the Knights, while Joe Camiliere reached base four times and scored twice without having an official at-bat. Sam Komel and French scored three runs apiece.
“They did hit the ball,” Miller said. “They hit it where it needed to be, but the routine plays you need to make. They played a great game. This is my first time ever experiencing a no-hitter, a perfect game, but that’s part of the game. We’ve got to rebuild and come back next season and see what we can do.”
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