WC regional tilt suspended

Westminster Christian second baseman Zach Holmer forces out North Shore Country Day's Trey Surpless on Thursday in Elgin.

(Karen Naess/For The Courier-News)

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ELGIN -- Westminster Christian didn't expect to have to work this hard for its first postseason victory.

The second-seeded Warriors were locked in a 5-5 tie with No. 3 North Shore Country Day on Thursday when their Westminster Christian Class 1A Regional semifinal game was suspended due to darkness after the 11th inning.

The game is tentatively scheduled to resume at 10 a.m. Saturday. Top seed Alden-Hebron awaits in the championship game, which tentatively will move from Saturday morning to 11 a.m. Monday. Those changes are all pending approval by the Illinois High School Association.

Westminster (25-8), which is in search of its third straight regional title, squandered a golden opportunity when it failed to score after loading the bases with no outs in bottom of the ninth. That was just one of several frustrating moments for the Warriors, who can set a school record for wins in a season with a victory.

"Our goal going into the postseason was not to press and stay easy and relaxed, and we've certainly not been easy and relaxed," WC's Brandon Siewert said. "We definitely had that huge opportunity with the bases loaded and no outs. I don't know how we let that get away."

Siewert is a big reason the Warriors are still alive. The senior reached base in all five at-bats and is 3-for-3 with four RBIs and two stolen bases. He also pitched five scoreless innings off relief.

Siewert's two-run triple in the third inning gave Westminster a 3-2 lead. The Raiders bounced back for two runs in the fourth and another run in the fifth to pull ahead 5-3, but Siewert delivered again with a two-run single to tie the score at 5.

With the bases loaded and no outs in the eighth, Joe McGannon hit a soft liner that was caught by charging NSCD second baseman Jake Gordon, who then fired to third to double off Westminster's Mike O'Neill.

Raiders reliever Mikey Gendell then intentionally walked Siewert to re-load the bases before getting out of the jam when Brandon Weingartner grounded into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

Trey Surpless is 4-for-5 with an RBI and Alex Whitmore is 3-for-4 with two runs scored for NSCD (12-3). Chadd Schroy is 3-for-6 with an RBI for the Warriors.

Siewert combined with freshmen Ryan Perez and Kevin Elder to strike out 20 batters. All three pitchers are still in the game and could potentially pitch once the contest resumes.

"To tell you the truth, with the way we came out being kind of flat, I think we might have escaped the bullet," WC coach Jeff Moeller said. "We played tight right from the get-go and it came back and got us."