Rams' ace will take hill against 'Toppers
Snyder has had role in Grayslake Central's last two tourney wins
The list of state-finalists from the East Suburban Catholic Conference in prep baseball is long and distinguished.
So, tradition will definitely be on the side of Joliet Catholic when the Hilltoppers battle Grayslake Central High in an IHSA Class 3A state semifinal on Friday at 1 p.m. at the home of the Joliet Jackhammers minor-league baseball team in Joliet.
(Jeff Krage/Sun-Times News Group)
Friday’s Semifinals
* LaSalle-Peru (33-3) vs. Glenwood Chatham (31-5), 10 a.m.
* Grayslake Central (25-15) vs. Joliet Catholic (30-5), 1 p.m.
Saturday’s Games
* Third place, 9 a.m.
* Championship, 1 p.m.
Or will it?
Two teams from the Fox Valley Conference -- Grayslake Central and Cary-Grove (in Class 4A) -- have qualified for this year's Final Four.
Not to mention that Prairie Ridge captured the Class 4A state title last season, while Joliet Catholic finished third in Class 3A.
"Both teams come from great baseball conferences," said Grayslake Central coach Troy Whelan. "Joliet Catholic is used to playing in games like this, while we haven't been there before, so they will have the tradition advantage.
"But I will stack up our conference's strength this season against any other."
Whelan mentioned that Cary-Grove, Prairie Ridge and Huntley all won 30 or more game this season.
"And we are closing in on No. 26 and counting, so there was a lot of good baseball played in our league."
Joliet Catholic piled up an impressive 15-1 record in claiming the ESCC title this season -- four games ahead of second-place Nazareth Academy, which Grayslake Central (25-15) edged 8-7 in eight innings in Monday's super-sectional round.
The Hilltoppers (30-5 overall) are an impressive offensive team with a .410 team batting average to go along with a team home-run total of 27. Joliet Catholic showed off some of that offense in a 13-8 super-sectional win over Chicago Jones.
They also have several standout pitchers in Kendall Paluch (10-2, 2.88 ERA), Brock Liston (8-0, 1.78) and A.J. Plese (7-0, 1.36).
"On paper, it might not look too good for us, but we've been getting timely hitting and good pitching throughout the state tournament, so go figure," said Whelan. "We've been playing our best baseball of the season at the right time, so we are going to try to keep this thing rolling for two more games."
Grayslake Central senior pitching ace Aaron Snyder (10-2, 1.40) will get the starting nod in Friday's semifinal contest. Snyder pitched a scoreless eighth to seal Monday's super-sectional win, plus earned a victory with a complete-game two-hit shutout in last Thursday's sectional semifinal against Vernon Hills.
"We hadn't used Aaron on three days rest all season, so we didn't want to take a chance with a player with a bright future by starting him on Monday," said Whelan of the Southern Illinois University recruit.
"We planned on using him if for one inning if we needed to get a save in the seventh, but it happened to be in the eighth on Monday."
