The emotions of Clay Kovac and his Mundelein Mustangs teammates swung from despair to ecstasy Thursday on the final two pitches of their 4-3 eight-inning victory over McHenry in the Barrington sectional semifinals.
The score was 3-3, the bases were loaded with one out and the suicide squeeze was on when McHenry reliever Jake Giurlani fired the game’s next-to-last pitch.
Nick Yoder missed the bunt. Tyler Wegener, hopelessly trapped between third and home, was tagged out in a rundown. The other runners advanced, Kovac taking third.
Giurlani then unloaded a wild pitch that his catcher, Adam Knaack, had no chance to block. Kovac dashed home with the winning run and became the complete-game winning pitcher, raising his record to 12-1.
“It was supposed to have been a fastball away,” Giurlani said of his wild pitch. “There’s a lot of pressure out there. I know now everyone will point the finger at me.”
Mundelein catcher Chris Hynes led off the eighth with a double and gave way to pinch-runner Wegener.
“It was such a great feeling running across home plate,” Kovac said. “Maybe we got a break, but both teams played well. Mark Badgley pitched great for McHenry.
“And Luke Eber at shortstop played the best game I’ve ever seen him play.”
Badgley struck out 10 and limited the Mustangs to four hits. Eber speared wicked liners hit by Jerad Beckler and Josh Lively on successive pitches in the fifth and threw out Lively from the deep hole in the seventh.
McHenry (21-13) tied the game 3-3 with two runs in the sixth, the second coming on pinch-runner Ryan Morris’ daring steal of home on a double steal.
Mundelein (29-8) plays Prairie Ridge on Saturday in the Barrington sectional final.
