Bad day, great season
Neuqua halts most successful Plainfield North season
The most successful baseball season in Plainfield North High School history came to a screeching halt June 2.
Not that anyone who watched the Tigers all season could have seen this one coming.
Neuqua Valley rallied from a 6-1 deficit to beat the Tigers 15-6 in the twice-delayed championship game of the Class 4A Hinsdale South Regional in Darien.
The postmortem for the Tigers (27-7) includes a search for an answer on exactly how this happened.
When Casey Wilgosiewicz belted a two-run home run and Alex Molek followed with a solo shot in the bottom of the third inning to stake the Tigers and senior left-hander Mike Klett to a 6-1 lead, North, the No. 4 seed in the sectional, appeared on the verge of a trip to the semifinals.
Instead, Klett, who had won all of his eight decisions and sported an ERA in the lower 1s, suddenly had difficulty finding the plate. He walked the first three hitters in the fourth inning and did not retire a batter until the 26th pitch of the inning. When he walked in a run on four pitches to the next batter, he was removed in favor of senior right-hander Ethan Johnson.
The Tigers' defense sprung a couple of leaks as well, and before the nightmare of a half-inning was over, No. 5 seed Neuqua had gotten back to even at 6-6.
Klett hadn't pitched in two weeks but was not using that as an excuse.
"It was a little hard to find my rhythm, for whatever reason," said Klett, who will continue his pitching career at Western Michigan University. "I gave up the homer in the first inning, then I got in a groove for the next couple of innings. But in the fourth I couldn't find the zone. I couldn't find it with my fastball, that's for sure."
"We didn't execute after we got the lead," North coach John Darlington said. "We lost our focus in the zone and it got rolling downhill.
"If you would have told me we would have a 6-1 lead with Mike (Klett) on the mound and it didn't work out, I wouldn't have believed it. But he'll be fine. He's our career leader in wins, and he will go on to bigger and better things."
At the same point in the game, Neuqua senior right-hander Mike McKinley found his groove, and he stayed there the rest of the way.
"Their kid found his curve," Darlington noted. "He really dialed it in from the middle of the game on."
After Jordan Williamson hit the first of his two home runs in the top of the first for a 1-0 Neuqua lead, North responded in the bottom of the inning. The first of two Zach Pacanowski doubles began the rally, Jeff Paulson doubled him home and Wilgosiewicz singled in the go-ahead run.
The Tigers went out quietly in the second but were back at it in the third. Klett reached on a passed ball on a strikeout, Pacanowski doubled and Andrew Starks beat out an infield squibber as the other runners held their bases.
A run scored when Paulson rapped into a double play. Wilgosiewicz then ripped a long home to center field, his seventh, and Molek followed with his third for the 6-1 lead.
This time, however, it not hold up.
"I would have put this in the books as a win," Starks said Klett being on the mound with a 6-1 lead. "I've been playing with Mike since about sixth grade, and it's the first time I've seen this happen to him. But he will be fine. He is going on to bigger and better things."
So is Starks, who will continue his football career at Princeton.
"We had a great season," he said. "I attribute that to all my teammates, including the younger guys. The underclassmen have a lot of talent, and after an experience like this, they will be in this position next year and not blow it."
When Klett left the mound in the top of the fourth, North's lead was down to 6-3, and the bases were full with one out. Johnson attempted to pick the runner off third and threw wildly, allowing two runs to score. Williamson's ground ball took a wicked hop and bounced off shortstop Brad Porter for an infield single to tie it.
Travis Hawks' single with nobody out in the bottom of the fourth would be the Tigers' last hit. In fact, McKinley retired the last 12 Tigers, eight on strikes.
Joe Ippolito hammered a solo homer off Johnson (2-2) in the fifth to give Neuqua a 7-6 lead. He also roped a three-run double in the sixth, when Williamson hit his second homer and Alex Lincoln, the first batter Starks faced, slammed a two-run shot.
Not the way it was supposed to happen, but an outstanding season for North nonetheless.
"What can you say about today?" Darlington said. "But, oh, yeah, it was a great year. I'm not disappointed, or if I am right now, it will go away quick. We'll get going on the summer right away.
"This was one extra step for our young program. We played well in the conference, and this could have been icing on the cake."
The Tigers finished 27-7 despite losing junior right-handed pitcher Scott Vachon, who would have one of the top starters, to a basketball injury. And, they were without three-year regular Chris Welch, who was penciled in at second base this season, also because of injury. Hawks filled in admirably.
"Travis Hawks was destined to be our backup bullpen catcher," Darlington said. "He stepped in and did a great job."
"We started 3-3 and then went 24-4," Klett noted. "We started playing well, hitting well and playing good defense. It was a special year, and this will be good exposure for our younger guys to have been here today."
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