Baseball Notebook: Senior pitcher has Seneca baseball Cruise-ing along

That the Seneca Fighting Irish are having such a solid season is no surprise, in large part because of their do-it-all guy, senior Matt Cruise.

His pitching stats to date speak for themselves: 4-1 record, 76 strikeouts and just four earned runs allowed in 41 1/3 innings for an ERA of 0.68. His only loss was 4-1 in the Irish season opener to Class 3A Ottawa, a game in which he gave up four hits and two earned runs over three innings. Since then he’s been on fire, including his handing the first loss this season to a then 15-0 Marquette club that still leads the Tri-County Conference.

Cruise is nearly as dangerous at the plate, where he’s hitting .372 with a .628 slugging percentage, a .525 on-base percentage, one homer, 11 runs batted in and 12 stolen bases for the Irish, now 12-5 overall, 9-3 in the TCC.

“Matt’s been the backbone of the pitching staff,” Seneca coach Tim Brungard said. “Every big game he gets the ball, and every time he’s answered the call. He got a huge win over Marquette, he had a huge outing against Putnam County, and [Wednesday] he was fantastic against Roanoke-Benson. Every time he’s on the mound, you have the feeling you can beat anybody. …

“The team is eager to play well behind him.”

Interesting postseason possibilities emerge

Cruise’s success leaves Brungard with an interesting decision: to use him in the May 19 Reed-Custer Regional opener against the host Comets or save him for final.

Seneca is the No. 6 seed in the Joliet Catholic 2A Sectional complex and will see No. 4 R-C hoping to advance to the title game, most likely against the No. 1-seeded sectional host Hilltoppers.

Elsewhere in 2A, in the Stillman Valley Sectional, No. 10 Sandwich will take on No. 9 Mendota for the right to face No. 2 Aurora Central Catholic.

In the Millikin Sectional complex, Fieldcrest is the No. 10 seed and at the Eureka Regional will meet No. 11 Deer Creek-Mackinaw. That winner moves on to do battle with the No. 1 seed, host Eureka.

In 1A, Marquette is the No. 1 seed in the Elmhurst Harvest Christian Sectional and in its own regional at Masinelli Field. MA will on May 18 face the winner of No. 10 Earlville at No. 8 St. Bede. The other semifinal pits the defending 1A third-place club, No. 3-seeded Newark, against No. 7 Serena.

Also in the Harvest Christian Sectional, Somonauk, the No. 4 seed and a regional host, will await the winner of the contest between No. 11 Leland at No. 5 Yorkville Christian.

No. 9 Indian Creek and No. 6 Hinckley-Big Rock will meet in another first-rounder, with the winner taking on No. 2 Putnam County.

Also in the small-school bracket, Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell is the No. 8 seed in the Illinois Wesleyan Sectional complex and at the Roanoke-Benson Regional will square off against No. 7 Lexington, the winner to meet No. 2 seeded LeRoy.

The seeds and pairings for Class 3A Ottawa and Streator have not been released as of this writing, though both will be in the Washington Sectional and quite possibly at the La Salle-Peru Regional.

One door closes, another opens for Marquette

Just nine days after losing team RBI leader Beau Ewers for the season with a broken thumb, the Marquette Crusaders got back junior second baseman Tommy Durdan from a leg injury. Durdan, The Times Football Player of the Year last fall and an All-Area Honorable Mention pick in basketball, served as DH in last Friday’s 10-0 win over Streator and contributed a two-run single to right in four trips to the plate.

His return to the field defensively will allow a return to center field for versatile freshman Julian Alexander, who has filled in admirably at second during the injury just as he does on occasion behind the plate to give regular backstop Hayden McKenna a break.