Prep baseball: Owen Piazza’s gem leads Sycamore past Morris

SYCAMORE – Thanks to Sycamore’s 7-1 win over Morris on Tuesday, the Spartans have set up a winner-take-all showdown when the teams meet in their final conference game of the season Wednesday.

“It’s a man’s game tomorrow,” Morris coach Todd Kein said. “It’s not a boy’s game. It’s not a high school kid’s game. It’s a man’s game tomorrow, and we’re going to see if the men show up to play.”

The win gave Morris (21-4 overall, 12-1 Interstate 8) and Sycamore (23-3, 12-1) identical conference records heading into Wednesday’s conference finale, with the winner claiming the outright I-8 title.

For three innings Tuesday, Morris was leading 1-0, and starter Cody DelFavero was dealing, striking out three and allowing two hits in the first three innings.

But in the bottom of the fourth, the Sycamore bats came to life. The first five batters got hits as the Spartans scored for five runs in the inning. After Jimmy Amptmann singled, Kyle Hartmann doubled, and Lucas Winburn doubled them both in.

After that came what Sycamore coach Jason Cavanaugh called the two biggest at-bats of the game. No. 7 hitter Matthew Roasado doubled in a run, then Joey Puleo singled. Even though Rosado was held up at third, he scored when Hunter Britz hit into a double play.

“Those innings can end quickly when guys at the plate don’t do their job and don’t move runners,” Cavanaugh said. “We were able to both, move the runner and get the bonus base hit out of it as well. Rosado and Puleo had the two key at-bats of the game.”

After laboring in the first two innings, Sycamore starter Owen Piazza cruised over the final five. He allowed only two hits the rest of the game, and one was a single by Caston Norris, who was thrown out trying to stretch it into a double by right fielder Tommy Townsend.

Piazza said he stopped worrying about strikeouts and started pitching to contact. After a walk and a strikeout in the first two innings, he didn’t allow a walk or strike out a batter over the last five innings. He threw 83 pitches in the game.

“It’s a man’s game tomorrow. It’s not a boys’ game. It’s not a high school kids’ game. It’s a man’s game tomorrow and we’re going to see if the men show up to play.”

—  Todd Kein, Morris baseball coach

“I definitely got ahead in the count more,” Piazza said. “My curve today wasn’t where I needed it to be. I started throwing more fastballs, threw in a changeup here and there. I was more concerned about being efficient than gunning for a K.”

Hartmann added a home run in a 3 for 3 performance with an RBI and two runs scored. Kiefer Tarnoki added two hits and scored twice.

“I can tell our whole dugout has a lot of momentum going into tomorrow,” Piazza said. “We were all very excited for today’s game, so I’m sure it will be the same tomorrow, if not even more exciting going to Morris.”

Brett Bounds had two hits and scored the only Morris run, reaching on a single, advancing on a Landon VanDyke single, then scoring after two wild pitches in the top of the second.

“We didn’t get the consistency up and down the lineup we’ve been blessed with quite frankly,” Kein said. “I think we were pressing a little bit. I think we were a little overanxious at times. He finishes the game with an ideal pitch count for a head coach. We have to find the balance between attacking early and also being able to work some counts and drive the pitch count up a little bit. It’s something we’ve been able to do all year, but we strayed away from it a little bit today. I think the results speak for themselves.”

Morris had won 14 straight heading into Tuesday’s game.

“Their kids just got punched in the mouth, and they’re going to punch right back,” Cavanaugh said. “Todd will have those guys ready to play, there’s no doubt in my mind. And hopefully I’ll have my guys ready to play tomorrow for a conference championship.”