After swinging and missing at a first-pitch fastball, St. Laurence’s Matt McCormick had a pretty good idea what pitch was coming next from Brother Rice’s Jack Guzek.
And the sophomore catcher was ready.
“From what (assistant) coach Adam (Lotus) did with the (pitching) charts, when (Guzek) goes 0-1, he throws a curveball,” McCormick said. “I was looking for it.”
The West Virginia recruit got it Saturday and ripped a walk-off double to score Brian Lyle, giving the host Vikings a 2-1 victory in the Class 4A St. Laurence Sectional championship game.
St. Laurence (34-5) advanced to play Neuqua Valley (35-1-1) at 7:30 p.m. Monday in the Crestwood Supersectional at Standard Bank Stadium.
After going 22 years without a sectional title, the Vikings have won two in a row.
“We had some very good teams that never got to this point,” St. Laurence coach Pete Lotus said. “It truly is hard to do.”
It was a textbook effort by McCormick, a left-handed hitter who drove an outside curveball into the left-center gap.
It also wasn’t by accident.
“I’ve been trying to work on that all year,” McCormick said. “My swinging was out of control. In the second half of the season, I did a better job of taking pitches like that to left field.”
Lyle ignited the game-winning rally by looping a one-out single to left field. He had to alter his approach after grounding out twice.
“I had two really bad at-bats before the last one,” Lyle said. “I was going to swing at an early fastball.”
Illinois-Chicago commit Tommy Farrell followed with another single, putting runners on first and second. Guzek, an Indiana State recruit, retired the next hitter for the second out.
That brought up McCormick, whose RBI double in the fifth tied the game 1-1. He also tripled in the third.
“Matt is truly a smart, special player,” Pete Lotus said. “What he did with that pitch is a hard, hard thing to do.”
Brother Rice (29-9) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth, but wasted a golden opportunity to do more damage.
The Crusaders loaded the bases with no outs off St. Laurence starter Jimmy Burnette on consecutive walks to Timmy Mahay, Brett Bagus and Ryan King. Guzek followed with a single to make it 1-0.
Angel Sandoval (10-0) was summoned by Lotus from the bullpen to face No. 3 hitter Ryan Kutt. Sandoval wasn’t the least bit intimidated, not even with an estimated 1,000 fans surrounding the field.
“I knew it was going to be tough,” Sandoval said. “Go in and throw strikes and pitch to the zone.”
Sandoval retired Kutt on a pop fly and then got Andy Lopez to hit into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.
Sandoval didn’t allow a hit and walked one over three innings for the win. Burnette allowed four hits, walked four and struck out three. Shane Gorman pitched a three-hitter over five innings for Rice.
Although the Crusaders took the lead, Kutt said the fifth inning seemed like a missed opportunity.
“Absolutely,” Kutt said. “I felt like it was a good pitch. I just popped it up.”
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