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Palmer, Eagles rally to top Trevians
Updated: June 1, 2011 10:48PM
Eric Palmer said he was looking for a fastball to hit on the first pitch
when he came to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning of Leyden’s
come-from-behind 9-8 win over New Trier Wednesday in the semifinals of the
Glenbrook South Class 4A Sectional.
“I was looking for a fastball, and that’s what I got,” he said. “I knew I
hit it pretty good, but I wasn’t sure it was going to go out.”
It did.
The Eagles already had rallied in the sixth for three runs to pull within
two (8-6) of the Trevians. Runners were on second and third with one out when
Palmer walked to the plate.
The ball Palmer hit carried over the right-center field fence and put Leyden
(28-5) ahead for the first time since New Trier (25-11) had come back from
an early 3-0 deficit with two runs in the fourth and three in the fifth for
a 5-3 advantage. Another three-run inning in the sixth increased the
Trevains’ lead to 8-3.
Palmer also was the winning pitcher for the Eagles. He took over on the
mound with one out and two runners on in the sixth inning and the Trevians
holding their 5-3 advantage. An error and a two-run single by Josh
Perlmutter extended the New Trier lead to 8-3, but Palmer then got the two
final outs of the frame and survived a walk and a base hit in the top of the
seventh to close things out.
“Eric did a great job,” Leyden coach Gary Wolf said. “It was great for us
that he only threw 60 pitches in five innings Monday (in the Eagles’
five-inning, 10-0 Regional championship win over Niles North). We wouldn’t
have used him today if he had pitched seven innings.”
New Trier starting pitcher John Cook struggled with his control from the
start of the game. The lefty walked five in 1 2/3 innings. Leyden finally
took advantage of the walks with two-out, bases-clearing, three-run triple
Carlos Olavarria.
The 3-0 lead held up for the Eagles behind starting pitcher Justin Stawychny
until the top of the fifth. New Trier closed to within 3-2 in the fourth on
a two-run homer by Campbell Lipe. Sam Thomas walked to lead off the fifth
and scored the tying run on Christain Carr’s triple. Carr then crossed the
plate with the lead run on Charlie Tilson’s ground ball out. Later in the
inning, Lipe drew a bases-loaded walk off Leyden reliever Angel Sanchez to
give the Trevians a 5-3 lead.
After extending its lead to 8-3 with three more runs in the top of the
sixth, New Trier began to get itself into trouble when pitcher Brian Kost,
who had been outstanding since taking over in the second inning for Cook,
walked two of the first three hitters he faced.
An infield hit by leadoff hitter Eli Perez loaded the bases with one out for
Leyden, and Olavarria then drew a walk to force in a run and make the score
8-4.
Kyle Nitiss took over on the mound for Kost and was greeted by a two-run
single by Stawychny, bringing the Eagles to within 8-6. Palmer followed with
his three-run homer.
“We had everyone get together before we hit in the sixth inning,” Wolf said.
“I just told our guys that win or lose, we should go out in style and show
how we played ball all year long. We’ve come back in several games this
year, but this was just an incredible comeback.”
For New Trier, the 11 walks issued by its four pitchers proved too much to
overcome. Six of the Leyden runners, that got on base via walks,
scored.
“When you walk that many, it’s going to come back to bite you,” New Trier
coach Mike Napoleon said. “You can’t walk their seven hitter and their nine
hitter. Then you come to the top of the order, and those guys are good
hitters. It also put our defense on its heals.”
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