Kaneland’s Angel Acevedo picked the perfect time for a first.
The junior right fielder had never hit a home run over the fence until Saturday’s Class 3A Kaneland Regional championship game against Aurora Central Catholic.
With the game tied in the third inning, Acevedo crushed a grand slam to right, powering the Knights to an 8-4 win and their first regional title in three years.
“I was just looking to put the ball in play,” Acevedo said. “The past couple games, I haven’t been doing too hot. I have been dropping my shoulder.
“I was just thinking to keep a level swing, line drives and base hits. It was a great experience. I felt adrenaline all over. It was a great feeling.”
ACC coach Sean Bieterman faced a tough decision prior to Acevedo’s slam. With runners on second and third and two outs, he opted to intentionally walk the red-hot Luke Gomes to load the bases.
“We know enough about Gomes to know that it’s the right baseball move to walk him,” Bieterman said. “You’ve got a guy like Acevedo up, and you’re taking your chances, but that’s just baseball.
“We’d do it again. I know that sounds crazy, but we’d do it again, because that’s the right baseball move.”
Kaneland coach Brian Aversa agreed with Bieterman’s strategy.
“If I was playing against our team, I’d say Gomes isn’t going to beat us, especially with guys on second and third,” Aversa said. “Angel saw that one well and it got out in a hurry.
“It was good to see him put a charge in that one. It was a big spot for us in the game.”
Things started in promising fashion for ACC (19-15).
The Chargers got to Kaneland ace Robbie Dudzinski in the first. Hunter Darnell singled in Mike Elliott, and Mac Doherty followed with a two-run homer to make it 3-0.
After walking the leadoff hitter in the second, Dudzinski was pulled in favor of Alex Buchanan.
“We talked before about how we wanted to get ahead,” Bieterman said. “That was the key to being in this game with as good of a team as they are. We wanted to play confidently and come out and swing the bats, and we did that.”
Zach Farris led off the second with a home run to get the Knights (21-8) on the board. That sparked a three-run inning to tie the game. It was tied 4-4 before Acevedo’s heroics.
Buchanan (9-0) made the grand slam stand up. He started Wednesday’s win over Wheaton Academy but was pulled after 60 pitches with the hope he could make a relief appearance Saturday.
Nobody knew that outing would last six innings.
“I can’t say enough about his performance,” Aversa said of Buchanan. “We thought maybe he’d close it up. If it gets close, we’ll bring him in.
“We weren’t expecting the six-inning relief effort, and hat’s off to him for battling. What a tough situation.”
Kaneland will play at 4 p.m. Wednesday against Burlington Central in the Class 3A Sterling Sectional semifinals.
“I’m really excited,” Acevedo said. “We’re all really excited. I think we can go far. If we just keep doing what we’ve been doing, we should be fine.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
