Baseball: Henry loses 8-0 to Gibault Catholic in Class 1A state title game

PEORIA – On Saturday, Henry-Senachwine baseball coach Max Kirbach took the IHSA trophy and handed it to his captains and they brought it over to their teammates.

And for the first time in school history – in any sport – the Mallards hoisted a team state trophy.

It wasn’t the trophy Kirbach and his players hoped to earn after an 8-0 loss to Gibault Catholic in the Class 1A championship at Dozer Park, but Kirbach said the Mallards are proud to bring it back to Henry.

“This is the furthest any team in Henry-Senachwine history has gotten, so I told them heads up, be proud,” Kirbach said. “(I told them) every other team in the state but one, you got higher than place wise, so be proud of it. We’ll celebrate and enjoy our second-place finish.”

Henry got off to a promising start Saturday as Mason Guarnieri led off the game with a single into left field.

Preston Rowe followed with a bunt single to put two runners on with no outs.

“This is the furthest any team in Henry-Senachwine history has gotten, so I told them heads up, be proud.”

—  Max Kirbach, Henry-Senachwine coach

However, a fielder’s choice, a pop out and a lineout ended the inning and the Mallards managed just two more hits the rest of the way against Gibault starter Brady Biffar.

In the bottom half of the first, the Mallards made two uncharacteristic defensive miscues that led to an unearned run.

The Hawks tacked on two more runs in the fourth and broke the game open with a five-run fifth.

“All the credit to them, they came out and hit the baseball,” Kirbach said. “They earned it. Give their pitcher credit. We didn’t hit very well. It’s been an issue part of the year, but he kept us off balance, threw strikes the entire game and they made plays.”

In the bottom of the first, Daniel Darin reached on an error before Hudson Blank got on with a fielder’s choice.

Blank stole second then stole third and the throw skipped into left field, allowing Blank to race home.

Gibault No. 9 hitter Jack Keeven delievered a two-out, two-run single with the bases loaded in the fourth.

In the fifth, Darin led off with a single and Blank followed with a two-run home run to left field for his second homer of the weekend.

Biffar tripled, Ty Frierdich hit an RBI single, Keeven had an RBI double and Kameron Hanvey hit an RBI single.

“They sat curveball, dead red everything and put the ball in play,” Henry ace Lance Kiesewetter said.

Kiesewetter tossed his fourth complete game of the postseason, allowing eight runs (seven earned) on 12 hits with eight strikeouts and one walk.

“I think maybe we messed a few calls up and relied a little too much on the fastball instead of a little more offspeed, so that’s on us,” Kirbach said. “He’s pitched a lot of pitches this season, so probably a little more tired than he normally is. He’s been going on four days rest most of the postseason, sometimes three and typically in the (regular) season, we’ve had him on five or six days rest.”

The Mallards, meanwhile, couldn’t get anything going against Biffar.

After the two hits in the first, all Henry had was a walk by Kiesewetter in the fourth, a bloop to shallow center field that Teagan Williams turned into a double in the fifth and a single by Kiesewetter in the sixth.

“He really hit his spots,” Williams said. “He’s kind of what we’ve been seeing all year, we just couldn’t execute. I think we got in our heads too much and started thinking too much and that was a big problem.”

The Mallards finish 24-7.

“It didn’t come out to be what we wanted (Saturday), but we put our all out there,” Williams said.