Baseball: Libertyville powers its way past Maine South, advances to 4A state tournament
Josh Holst just needed to take a deep breath.
The Libertyville ace was standing in the mound in the bottom of the first. Two runs were already across the plate, the bases were loaded and he had not helped his team retire a Maine South batter.
The senior found the oxygen he needed and a lot more.
He struck out the next three batters and then watched as Libertyville exploded for a 13-4 win over Maine South Monday in the Class 4A supersectional at Wintrust Field in Schaumburg.
It will be the first trip to the state semifinals for Libertyville (34-4) since 2013. In that year, the Wildcats defeated Maine South to advance and Libertyville ended up second in the state.
Libertyville will play Normal Community in Friday’s Class 4A state semifinal game at 4 p.m. at Slammers Stadium in Joliet. Normal (35-4) beat Waubonsie Valley 2-0 at the Illinois Wesleyan supersectional. It was the Ironmen’s 16th shutout this season.
“It was uncharacteristic of Josh,” Libertyville coach Matt Thompson said. “If there is anybody who can pitch through it and overcome a slow start, that’s the guy I want out there. We knew he would battle and he did. We are all excited. I can’t emphasize enough that this is a team win. You saw different guys doing some different things.”
Maine South took the early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first without hitting the ball out of the infield.
After the first two Hawks walked, Evan Adamczewski beat out a perfectly placed bunt down the third base line to load the bases. Luka Stojakovic followed with an infield single to score Constantine Coines. Eric Fugate then walked to score Nate Cera.
Holst then was able to settle in. He struck out the next three Maine South batters to keep the Hawks from adding to their lead.
Holst would then strike out the next two batters to begin the second inning. He pitched a complete game and finished with 10 strikeouts.
“I had trouble in the first inning of the last playoff game,” Holst said. “I just took a deep breath and started throwing strikes. I just love playing with these boys.”
With Holst back in the groove, Libertyville’s offense got back into gear.
The Wildcats got a run back in their next at bat. Carson Holmes walked and promptly stole second. The junior came racing home on Ryan Wilberding’s single to right to make it 2-1.
Libertyville then gave Holst some breathing room as Wildcats hit the Hawks with a five-spot in the top of the third.
Libertyville used a pair of walks and pair of Maine South errors to take a 3-2 lead. After a hard hit infield single by Wilberding drove in another run, Chase Lockwood belted a long double to make it 6-2.
Libertyville made it 7-2 when Lockwood, who had two hits on the day, drove in his third run of the game.
Maine South, which had been stymied since the first, finally found some life at the plate and tried to claw back.
Coines tripled and scored on a Cera’s sacrifice fly. Adamczewski singled and then came home on Stojakovic’s double to make it 7-4.
Libertyville got those two runs back in a hurry. Quinn Schambow tripled off the right field fence. He then came trotting home on Holst’s single. Wilberding then drove in a run with single to make it 9-4.
The Wildcats added four more runs in the seventh. Cole Lockwood drove in a run with his second hit of the game. He scampered home on Schambow’s double. Holst would follow with a double and his third RBI and Wilberding singled in his third run of the game to make it 13-4.
Maine South (23-17) used an extremely competitive schedule to get the Hawks in the position to make their postseason run. Maine South won its fourth sectional title in school history and came within a game of advancing to the state semifinals for the first time since 1966.
“I am proud of our guys,” Maine South coach Brian Lorenz said. “There has been a lot of resiliency with this team this year. We played heavy competition. Baseball is hard game. You have to be ready to go and make the plays.”