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JOLIET – So what did Matt Rosado think was working for him on the mound as he threw four shutout innings in Sycamore’s 2-1, nine-inning win over Effingham for third place in Class 3A?
“Basically, everything was working for me,” said the junior pitcher who didn’t allow a hit and picked up the win in relief. “I just came out there throwing strikes and letting my defense work, and if I get a strikeout, I get a strikeout.”
“Obviously, we didn’t want to come here and lose two. We wanted to win it all. But to end a win is definitely the way we wanted to end the season.”
— Lucas Winburn, Sycamore pitcher
He got strikeouts plenty, retiring seven on strikes. After two walks in his first inning of work, one of which was intentional, he retired the last 10 batters he faced.
Rosado entered the game with the Spartans (34-6) trailing 1-0 as the bats started cold for a second day in a row. But after 13 scoreless innings by a team that hadn’t been shut out since 2021, the Spartans tied the score in the bottom of the sixth before winning it in the ninth.
“That was a good-hitting team, and that team was kind of overall pretty good,” Rosado said. “It felt amazing.”
Owen Piazza got the start for the Spartans. But he’s had a history of arm problems, and coach Jason Cavanaugh said the arm was an issue Saturday. He was lifted after two innings, going once through the Effingham order.
Piazza allowed three hits, didn’t walk a batter and had a strikeout.
“The ball wasn’t coming out of his hand quite as hot as it usually does,” Cavanaugh said. “He wasn’t missing any barrels. But that said, he still pitched two scoreless innings for us and got us to a completely different type of pitcher who was able to get us three more innings in that situation.”
Lucas Winburn came on in relief. After a 1-2-3 third, he surrendered an unearned run in the fourth. He walked two batters in that inning, including No. 9 hitter Kaden Nichols with the bases loaded and two outs.
Winburn finished the game allowing one hit in three innings, striking out five and walking four.
“Well, I just thought outside of the one inning, he threw the ball really well,” Cavanaugh said. “He throws hard. It’s from such a steep angle and he just lost the strikes zone for just a little bit and that one inning.”
Rosado came on to pitch in the top of the sixth. Cavanaugh said it was a master class in efficiency.
“He usually comes in and fills up the strike zone,” Cavanaugh said. “He’s on the attack all the time. He walked the first guy he faced today, which is highly unusual for him, but he just went after people, and he’s not afraid to throw a curveball behind in the count. He mixes up his pitches well. He’s efficient on the mound. He threw four innings, and I think he threw 50 pitches.”
The win Saturday wrapped a strong showing for the Sycamore staff. On Friday, Jimmy Amptmann and Tommy Townsend held Nazareth to three runs – the Roadrunners’ lowest run total since May 13 and only the fourth time this year they scored three runs or fewer in a game.
“We just played the team that’s playing for the state championship and the fourth-place team, and we gave up four runs in 16 innings, so a tremendous job by our pitching staff all around,” Cavanaugh said. “So we don’t want to focus on a guy who gave up one run here. Let’s focus on the fact we pitched eight scoreless innings in this baseball game.”
Winburn said it felt good to be a part of the team to bring state baseball hardware back to Sycamore for the first time.
“Obviously, we didn’t want to come here and lose two,” Winburn said. “We wanted to win it all. But to end on a win is definitely the way we wanted to end the season.”