Griffins take down Sandburg

Updated: June 4, 2011 6:45PM

Lincoln-Way East should consider losing in the regular season to teams it may face in the playoffs more often.

After beating Lincoln-Way North, a team that had beaten East 9-3 in the regular season, 3-0 in the sectional semifinals, the Griffins took down Sandburg, a team that had beaten the Griffins twice by a combined score of 24-7 in the regular season, 10-4 in the Class 4A Sandburg Sectional for the Griffins’ first ever sectional championship.

East will take on Mount Carmel in the super-sectional Monday night at Standard Bank Stadium in Crestwood.

“The great thing about baseball is it’s different every day,” East (25-11) coach Paul Babcock said. “Yesterday is gone and there’s nothing it will do for you.”

In the bottom of the fifth inning with the score tied 4-4 and Alec Ornelas (2-for-3, HR, three RBI, two runs) on first and no outs, East’s Matt Rosenberger (2-for-4, HR, two RBI, two runs) hit a shot near the right field line. Ornelas was running on the pitch and rounded third hard, but a beautiful relay play that went from Zak Reks to Nick Bates to catcher Dan Rizzie cut down Ornelas at the plate.

With Sandburg (25-9) flashing the leather, the best idea was to keep the ball away from any gloves. That’s exactly what next batter Dan Huzinga (3-for-4, HR, two RBI, run) did, launching a two-run homer over the right field fence to give East a 6-4 lead.

“I swung at ball four in that at-bat, but I got my pitch later,” Huzinga said. “When we play as well as we have we can beat anyone.”

An RBI double for Ornelas and a two-run homer for Rosenberger in the bottom of the first made it 3-0 East. A ball through the legs of East second baseman Bobby Kosola with two outs in the top of the second allowed Dylan Rajkovich to score for Sandburg to make it 3-1. Next batter Nick Bates (1-for-3, HR, three RBI, run) blasted a three-run homer to give the Eagles a 4-3 lead.

“Every inning you start over,” Ornelas said. “It’s always a whole new ballgame.”

Just as his team had found redemption for regular season losses in the playoffs, Kosola (1-for-3, two runs, RBI) found redemption in the bottom of the fourth inning, walking with two outs and the bases loaded to tie the game.

Brandon Bollman cruised after the second inning, going six plus innings, giving up no earned runs, while striking out six.

“I was upset about the errors, but I tried not worry about it and just hit my spots,” Bollman said.

East would add four runs in the bottom of the sixth on a two-RBI single by Chris Scott and a two-run homer by Ornelas to seal it.

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