North Boone baseball uses balanced attack to down Riverdale 8-3 in sectional semifinals

BYRON, Ill.—Andrew Baden emphasized heading into Wednesday night’s IHSA 2A sectional semifinal showdown with Riverdale that the North Boone baseball team's well-roundedness would be the key to victory.

The third-seeded Vikings proved their head coach right as all nine batters either got a hit, scored a run or knocked one in while Eli Lopez threw seven strong innings to help North Boone take down the No. 3 Rams 8-3 to advance to the sectional championship.

Lopez singled to start the game and Matt Self walked before Chris Doetch singled to left to give the Vikings (26-8) an early lead. RJ Wolski brought Self home on a ground out to the shortstop and JJ Ford brought a third run in on a sacrifice fly.

Margarito Espain and Matt Self both hit RBI singles while Gage Vermett brought a run home on a sacrifice fly in a four-run fourth that made it 7-0 in favor of North Boone.

Riverdale (16-9) got a run back in the fifth but Doetch upped it to 8-1 with his infield single in the sixth. The Rams scored two more runs in the sixth but it was nowhere near enough for a comeback.

Doetch went 2-for-4 to pace the Vikings’ eight-hit attack. Self was 1-for-3 with a run scored and two walks. Colton Huffman had two hits for the Rams.

Lopez allowed just three earned runs on five hits and two walks while striking out five as North Boone committed just one error to Riverdale’s six and turned two double plays.

The Vikings will face second-seeded Newman Central Catholic of Sterling, Ill. on Saturday at 11 a.m. in Byron. The Comets (23-4-1) have already knocked out two Big Northern Conference teams with a 6-2 win over Rock Falls in the regional championship and a 7-2 win over Stillman Valley in the sectional semifinals.

• LINESCORE:

NORTH BOONE 8, RIVERDALE 3

NB;300;401;0;—;8;8;1

Riv;000;012;0;—;3;5;6

Leading hitters: NB, Lopez 1x3, 2 Runs; Self 1x3, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Doetch 2x4, 1 Run, 2 RBI; Wolski 0x4, 1 RBI; Ford 1x3, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Condon 1x4; Espain 1x4, 1 Run, 1 RBI; Meredith 1x4, 1 Run; Vermett 0x3, 1 Run, 1 RBI. Riv, Huffman 2x3, 1 RBI; Peterson 1x3, 1 RBI; Sutton 1x3, 1 Run, Scranton 0x1, 1 Run, 1 RBI.

Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): NB, Lopez 7.0-5-3-3-2-5. Riv, McWilliams 5.1-6-8-6-2-3, Heinsen 1.2-2-0-0-1-4.