With a combination of timely hitting and several baserunning gaffes by Deerfield, Evanston defended its top-seeded status in the Highland Park regional, defeating the Warriors Thursday 11-5.
The Wildkits (22-12) scored five in the first and kept the lead throughout the game. The hitting highlight of the initial frame was a three-run homer to right field off the bat of junior Greg Leisher. Leisher wound up with four RBIs on the day.
Deerfield (13-18) did not lack for scoring opportunities early on, but it committed several baserunning mistakes in the early innings by overrunning bases, getting picked off bases and trying to take an ill-advised extra base.
“There were some poor decisions with some of our reads,” said Deefield coach Kevin Marsh, “But the kids were trying to make things happen. Their timing may not have been great, but they were trying to be aggressive.”
Despite the baserunning problems, Deerfield scratched and clawed to close the deficit to 6-4 by the end of the 5th inning. However, Evanston plated three runs after the first two men were out in its half of the 6th to secure the victory. The big hit came when junior Charlie Newberger battled Deerfield pitcher Sam Weisz for 12 pitches, and then lined a two-run single into left.
The winning pitcher for Evanston was Matt Johnson, as he gutted out six innings despite giving five runs (three earned) on 110 pitches.
“I didn’t have my best stuff today, I was behind a lot. But our defense was there today,” said Johnson.
Looking towards the future Johnson added, “We’ve lost seven of our last 10. Hopefully now we’ll get a good streak going.”
Evanston now plays Highland Park Saturday morning in the regional semifinal at Highland Park.
Evanston coach Tony Dawkins hopes that with one playoff game under their belt, the young Wildkits will settle down and play good baseball.
“With so many young guys on our team, (only four Wildkits are seniors) I hope the butterflies are out, so we can play better and continue to hit like we did at the beginning of the game.”
