As he approached the left-handed batter’s box in the bottom of the seventh inning of the IHSA Class 4A Reavis Sectional final between Brother Rice and Mount Carmel, the Crusaders’ Conner Stack smiled and nodded his head approvingly.
The situation? The bases full with no outs and the winning run on third base after a single, an errant pickoff throw and a pair of intentional walks.
While Stack would have liked to have drilled a walk-off grand slam, what he did was perfect in the eyes of Brother Rice, which won 3-2 over the Caravan on June 7.
Facing a defense featuring five infielders, Stack hit a ground ball to Mount Carmel second baseman Brady Holland, who forced Jackson Natanek at the plate. On the play, however, Caravan catcher Mario Medina’s throw to first base in an attempt to retire Stack was errant. That allowed Brady Cunningham, who had been on second, to score the winning run.
It was the third sectional championship in the last four seasons for Rice (36-3).
“I just wanted to put the ball in play,” Stack said. “Whenever you put the ball in play, good things will happen and that’s what I did. It worked out for us.
“I heard our first-base coach screaming to get down the line and the first baseman’s eyes lit up and he was in the baseline. I did what I had to do.”
In gratitude for his contribution, Stack – who will attend Notre Dame in the fall as a student – was the first Crusader to hold the sectional plaque after it was presented.
“This means everything to me,” the Orland Park resident said. “I love Brother Rice. I travel 40 minutes to get to school every single day. This just means so much to me.”
The Caravan (25-14) opened the scoring in the first inning on Joey Ireland’s RBI single to left that brought home Kolin Adams.
Brother Rice took a 2-1 lead in the second as a throwing error by third baseman Pancho Vazquez on Colin Campbell’s bunt enabled Nolan Ramoley to score from first. With one out, Campbell scored on a wild pitch.
Mount Carmel tied the score at 2 in the fourth as Logan Fernandez’s RBI single to center with two outs brought home Vazquez.
Natanek worked 1 1/3 innings in relief, allowing one hit with one strikeout to earn the victory. Reliever Matt Murphy took the loss for the Caravan, who received a quality start from Notre Dame commit Connor Elenteny. He went six innings, striking out seven and walking five. The junior righthander gave up three hits and did not allow an earned run.
“Our kids gave everything they had,” Mount Carmel coach Brian Hurry said. “You can’t ask for more than that. This was a tough game for either team to lose. It was a great high-school baseball game and a great rivalry game.
“(Brother Rice) has a very tough lineup and that might be the best in the state of Illinois. Connor went toe-to-toe with them and pitched aggressively. He had really good stuff.”