BYRON, Ill.—North Boone senior Chris Doetch had put together some exciting at-bats this season with his ability to drive the ball over the fence for home runs.
But on Saturday afternoon, it was Doetch’s simple single that was the most exciting hit of the season for the Vikings.
With two outs and the score tied at three against Marian Central Catholic, Doetch smacked a hit into center field. Outfielder Brodee Vermette made an error on the ball and allowed Eli Lopez, who had singled with one out, to score and give North Boone the 4-3 win and an IHSA 2A Regional Championship.
The Vikings had advanced to the regional final with a 6-4 win over Aurora Central Catholic on Thursday.
North Boone (25-8) fell behind 3-0 in the top of the sixth before JJ Ford blasted a two-run triple in the bottom half and Grady Condon followed with a one-run single to tie it up.
Doetch went 3-for-4 and Condon had two hits while Colin Kowalsky had three hits for the Hurricanes (11-21).
North Boone used three pitchers with Matt Self throwing five innings with one earned run allowed on six hits and five walks with eight strikeouts. Gage Vermett threw the final two frames and allowed just one hit with three strikeouts.
The Vikings play Riverdale on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the sectional semifinal in Byron.
• BRODHEAD/JUDA 6-8, CLINTON 4-10: In Brodhead, the Cardinals and Cougars split a doubleheader on Saturday but it was Clinton that walked away as the big winners as it put itself in possession to claim a share of the RVC Rock title.
Brodhead/Juda finishes 10-5 in the conference while the Cougars are 9-5 with one RVC Rock game left, a showdown with winless Whitewater on Monday. If Clinton manages to avoid the upset it would share the conference crown with the Cardinals.
RBI singles from Tyler Moe and Payton Whalen in the top of the seventh acted as insurance as the Cougars won the first game on Saturday. Ryan Searls’ RBI groundout in the bottom half wasn’t enough for a comeback.
Logan Hendricks had two hits for Clinton (11-7) while Whalen and Gavin Wesling had two hits and two RBI. Searls paced Brodhead/Juda (12-10) with three hits while Gabe Bockhop had two.
Tim Arnold earned the win for the Cougars as he went six innings and allowed four runs (one earned) with five strikeouts. Evan Senobe went six innings for the Cardinals while allowing three hits, four runs (four earned) with four walks and eight strikeouts.
In the nightcap, Ryan Searls’ sacrifice fly broke a seven-all tie and two runs scored on a Cougars’ error as Brodhead/Juda beat Clinton in eight innings.
Down 7-4, Wesling had an RBI double, Moe hit an RBI sacrifice and Whalen’s one-run single tied it at seven to send it to extras. The Cougars got a run back on an error but two outs ended the comeback.
Wesling, Moe, Whalen and Arnold all had two hits for Clinton. Clayton Elliott smacked a two-run home run and Senobe had an RBI triple for the Cardinals, who drew seven walks.
• HONONEGAH 2, ROCKFORD GUILFORD 1: In Rockton, Jakob DeLeo brought a run home on a sacrifice fly in the fifth and then got the final out in the seventh to starve off a Vikings’ rally and earn the Indians a win in NIC-10 action.
Christian Nelson had an RBI groundout in the fourth as Landen Seymour paced Hononegah’s six-hit effort with two.
Ian Blankenship went 6 2-3 innings for the Indians (23-6, 17-1 NIC-10) and struck out six while allowing two hits. He was pulled after allowing a two-out single in the seventh and DeLeo ended the game on by getting Guilford (11-14, 9-9) to bounce into a fielder’s choice.
• JEFFERSON 7, BELOIT TURNER 2: In Whitewater, the Trojans committed three errors and were limited to an RBI doubles from Noah Pfundheller and Andy Buckley in a loss to the Eagles at the UW-Whitewater Triangular on Saturday.
Jefferson (20-5) was up 4-1 after two innings and added two runs in the sixth. Fernando Tillery had two of Turner’s six hits while Ethan Halon took the loss from the mound as he allowed four runs (three earned) on five hits and three walks with three strikeouts in three innings.
Payton Heard went 3-for-4 with two RBI for Jefferson.
• DENMARK 2, TURNER 1: Brandon Dvorak brought the go-ahead run home with his RBI groundout in the top of the seventh as the Vikings edged the Trojans in Whitewater.
Pfundheller made it 1-1 with his sacrifice fly in the sixth as Zack Ries and Jayden Mosley each had two of Turner’s six hits.
Buckley allowed just one hit but walked five and allowed an earned run in his start for the Trojans (11-10). He struck out four in three innings while Carston Jacobson allowed an unearned run on three hits with two strikeouts in four innings.
Ebyn LaForest had two hits for Denmark (17-5), which was outhit 6-4.
• UNION GROVE 13, BELOIT MEMORIAL 2: In Beloit, the Purple Knights cut it to 3-2 in the second on Max Allen’s two-run groundout, but the Broncos scored seven runs in the third on their way to a six-inning win in the SLC.
Union Grove (19-4, 10-2 SLC) had a whopping 21 hits with Beau Bloxdor having both a double and triple. Marshall Loch had a solo homer in his three-hit performance.
Brooks Mitchell, Mike Nora and Dustin Foss all had singles for Beloit (1-14, 1-11).
• LINESCORES:
NORTH BOONE 4, MARIAN CENTRAL CATHOLIC 3
MCC 000 012 0 — 3 7 5
NB 000 003 1 — 4 10 1
Leading hitters: MCC, Kowalsky 3x4; Todd 1x3, 1 RBI; Vermette 1x4, 1 RBI; Neuzil 1x3, 1 Run, 1 RBI. NB, Doetch 3x4, 1 Run; Condon 2x3, 1 RBI; Ford 1x3, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Lopez 1x4, 1 Run; Self 1x4, 1 Run.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): MCC, Wrzos 6.2-10-4-3-1-5. NB, Self 5.0-6-1-1-5-8, Ford 0.0-0-2-1-2-0, Vermett 2.0-1-0-0-1-3.
Game One
CLINTON 6, BRODHEAD/JUDA 4
Clin 000 211 2 — 6 7 5
B/J 010 110 1 — 4 6 0
Leading hitters: Clin, Hendricks 2x2, 2 Runs; Wesling 2x3, 2 Runs, 2 RBI; Moe 1x3, 1 RBI; Whalen 2x4, 1 Run, 2 RBI. B/J, R. Searls 3x4, 2 Runs, 1 RBI; Bockhop 2x4, 1 Run.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Clin, Arnold (W) 6.0-6-5-1-1-5, Wesling (S) 1.0-0-0-0-0-0. B/J, Senobe (L) 6.0-3-4-4-4-8, Elliott 1.0-4-2-2-0-1.
Game Two
BRODHEAD/JUDA 10, CLINTON 8 (8)
B/J 230 011 03 — 10 5 3
Clin 000 031 31 — 8 9 6
Leading hitters: B/J, Senobe 2x4, 2 Runs, 2 RBI; Elliott 2x5, 2 Runs, 1 RBI; R. Searls 1x3, 1 RBI. Clin, Wesling 2x4, 2 Runs, 1 RBI; Whalen 2x3, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Moe 2x3, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Arnold 2x4, 1 Run, 2 RBI.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): B/J, Sawle (W) 6.2-9-7-5-1-6, Elliott 1.1-0-1-0-0-3. Clin, Wesling (L) 5.0-3-6-3-3-3, Atkinson 3.0-2-4-2-4-3.
JEFFERSON 7, BELOIT TURNER 2
BT 011 000 0 — 2 6 3
Jeff 310 102 — 7 8 0
Leading hitters: BT, Tillery 2x2, 1 Run; Buckley 1x3, 1 RBI; Pfundheller 1x3, 1 RBI; Ward 1x3, 1 Run. Jeff, Heard 3x4, 2 RBI; Berge 1x4, 2 RBI; Wagner 1x2, 2 Runs; Kammer 1x3, 2 Runs; Peterson 1x3, 1 Run.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): BT, Halon (L) 3.0-5-4-3-3-3, Ries 2.1-3-3-2-0-0, Wightman 0.2-0-0-0-0-0. Jeff, Vogel (W) 2.1-3-2-2-2-2, Wagner 4.2-3-0-0-2-2.
DENMARK 2, BELOIT TURNER 1
Den 100 000 1 — 2 4 0
BT 000 001 0 — 1 6 1
Leading hitters: Den, LaForest 2x3, 2 Runs; Bienapfl 1x2, 1 Run. BT, Ries 2x3, 1 Run; Mosley 2x2; Pfundheller 0x0, 1 RBI.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): Den, Dorak (W) 4.0-3-0-0-1-1, DeLarwelle 3.0-3-1-1-3-2. BT, Buckley 3.0-1-1-1-5-4, Jacobson (L) 4.0-3-1-0-2-2.
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