All hands are on deck come Saturday morning for the St. Joseph-Ogden High School baseball team.
With postseason hardware at stake, that’s to be expected.
The Spartans advanced to Saturday’s Class 2A Unity Regional title game after a 3-2 win on Wednesday against Villa Grove/Heritage in a regional semifinal game.
“We’ve had a few pressure games early in our past postseason runs,” SJO coach Josh Haley said. “I always have felt there’s a game in the postseason that you have to grind out, and we had to do that Wednesday.”
Second-seeded SJO (25-8-2) takes on third-seeded Monticello (16-10-1) in the championship game at 11 a.m. on Saturday, the third straight year the two Illini Prairie Conference teams have met at this stage in the postseason. SJO has won the previous two postseason meetings with the Sages, and the Spartans will vie for their seventh straight regional championship.
The two teams just met on May 8, with SJO winning 7-3 at home. The Spartans are in the midst of an eight-game streak that has spanned the past two weeks.
Their closest win in that streak happened on Wednesday with its victory against Villa Grove/Heritage. The seventh-seeded Hawks took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning before SJO responded with two runs in the bottom of the first to go ahead 2-1.
SJO tacked on a run in the fourth to lead 3-1, and that insurance run was needed when VGH threatened with a run in the seventh before Adam Rose shut the door on the Hawks. Rose was stellar on the mound, throwing a complete game and only giving up three hits while striking out 11.
“Adam established his off-speed (pitch) in the third inning, and that was the difference in the game,” Haley said. “Once he started to get ahead of hitters early in the count, he had the advantage. He’s another player with postseason experience, and he was locked in.”
Ditto for Drew Coursey, who went 3 for 3 and hit a solo home run in the fourth that staked SJO to its 3-1 lead.
“I’m
Adam Frerichs (1 for 2, RBI), Crayton Burnett (1 for 3) and Brayden Weaver (1 for 3) had the other hits for SJO.
Rose’s ability to throw the entire game against VGH meant Haley didn’t have to go to his bullpen. Another advantage that SJO hopes is beneficial on Saturday.
“It allows everyone to be available (to pitch),” Haley said.
A win on Saturday would advance SJO to next week’s Bloomington Central Catholic Sectional.
The Spartans would play either Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley or Bloomington Central Catholic at 4:30 p.m. in a sectional semifinal game.
But first, Haley and the Spartans will look to defeat Monticello in what should be a close, competitive game against two programs who are well aware of each other.
“We’ll be prepared and ready on Saturday,” Haley said. “Monticello is a solid club, and we will have to be at our best to advance.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.