Baseball: Riverside-Brookfield’s banner season ends with sectional loss to Mt. Carmel

BURBANK – Seniors Owen Murphy and Brian Twomey knelt quietly along the right-field line by themselves Thursday, one of their final moments as Riverside-Brookfield baseball teammates.

The Bulldogs’ 11-6 loss to Mt. Carmel in the Class 4A Reavis Sectional semifinals ended one of the greatest seasons in program history and the good friends’ sports history that traces back to third grade after Twomey moved from Westchester.

“The first day I met him in the hallways, I knew we were really good friends, really good dudes,” Murphy said. “It’s going to be so tough without him. He gave it his all all of the time. He’s the teammate I always wanted. It’s so easy to lead when other guys do it right, too.”

They were big reasons why the No. 3-seeded Bulldogs (30-6) won a Metro Suburban Conference title, reached 30 wins for the first time 2013 and captured their first regional since 2014 even after being bumped into the largest enrollment class.

“They were professional leaders and the team fell in line behind their leadership,” R-B coach Dallas Till said. “Owen is such a great individual player he could be more of a me guy and he’s not at all. He doesn’t allow anybody else to have that and everybody’s kind of bought into that.”

Trying to capture the program’s first-ever sectional title factored into Till’s decision to use senior No. 2 pitcher Jack Niekrasz (6-3, 1.21 ERA) instead of the Notre Dame-bound pro prospect Murphy (10-0, 0.012 ERA), who would have pitched in Saturday’s final against No. 1 Brother Rice.

Till said facing No. 2 Mt. Carmel (22-11-1) would have been the shortest rest for Murphy between starts this season after a complete-game victory in the regional final May 28.

Both frames of a first inning that left the Bulldogs trailing 8-1 were a microcosm of their often frustrating day. R-B finished with nine errors.

“There were zero earned runs (we allowed). That was no fault of our pitcher. (Niekrasz) was the right guy for the game,” Till said. “Owen and I and our staff were on the same page with the decision. (Niekrasz) did everything he needed to do. We didn’t make plays behind him.”

In the top of the first, Murphy reached third after his wind-blown fly to right field was dropped. Murphy scored on a wild pitch but that was the Bulldogs’ only run after loading the bases with one out. Mt. Carmel then took control by combining five singles with four R-B errors. The Caravan added three more unearned runs in the third to lead 11-1.

“(Niekrasz) did his job. If we just backed him up, we would have gotten it,” said Murphy, who played shortstop. “He did a great job. My being on the mound wouldn’t have made anything different.”

Lewis-bound catcher Twomey also kept the Bulldogs battling. After Jake Tyler walked to open the fourth, Twomey smacked a two-run homer, his third this season, with a moonshot to center field.

“(I thought), ‘We’ve just got to chip away.’ Sometimes it runs into the barrel and I got lucky and put it over the wall,” Twomey said. “Stuff happens sometimes (like the first). I still love all of these guys to death. There’s nobody to blame. It’s just baseball. Nothing but a pleasure and privilege (at R-B), especially to play alongside a guy like (Murphy).”

In the sixth, Connor Chapulis was hit by a pitch for the second time, Luke Yachnin hit his second single and Sean McDermott drew his fourth walk to load the bases. Chapulis scored on a wild pitch and Ryan Novak doubled in two for R-B’s fourth and final hit. Besides the first inning, the Bulldogs stranded four other runners at second base.

“We needed to put more than one run in that first inning and we needed to keep it from eight. If we kept it at three or four, I think we really would have had a chance,” Till said.