Baseball: Richmond-Burton tops Maroa-Forsyth, heads to IHSA 2A state championship

PEORIA – Richmond-Burton pitcher Joseph Mrowiec had pitched the game of his life, striking out nine Maroa-Forsyth batters and allowing only three hits with a berth in the Class 2A state championship on the line.

Still, Rockets catcher Hayden Christiansen called timeout to visit Mrowiec with two outs in the bottom of the seventh and a one-run lead, just for a little pick-me-up.

“I wanted to go out and calm him down a little bit, reflect on the moment,” Christiansen said. “It’s not very often we get to stand in a stadium, one out away from going to the state championship and I really wanted him to take in the moment.”

Mrowiec appreciated the words. The two exchanged smiles. Then, the Rockets’ righty got Grant Reid, the Trojans’ No. 9 hitter who had two hits, to pop up a ball in foul territory down the left-field line.

R-B shortstop Connor Wallace caught the ball on a sprint and the Rockets had a 2-1 victory in their Class 2A State Tournament semifinal Friday at Dozer Park.

[ Photos: Richmond-Burton vs Maroa-Forsyth IHSA 2A baseball ]

R-B (32-6) will meet Joliet Catholic at 5:30 p.m. Saturday for the state title. R-B is trying to become the third area team to win a baseball state championship, joining Prairie Ridge (4A, 2008) and Crystal Lake South (4A, 2017).

“It definitely calmed my nerves a little bit,” said Mrowiec, who threw 110 pitches, five under the IHSA postseason limit. “He told me to take a deep breath in and out and it definitely helped a little bit.”

Maroa-Forsyth (32-2) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the fourth when Jaxson Grubbs walked and Jacob Blunck drilled a shot to the warning track in right-center field for a triple.

The Rockets answered with a run in the fifth on Ethan Fischer’s single, then scored the winning run in the seventh without a hit. Mrowiec drew a bases-loaded walk to bring in the game-winner.

R-B coach Mike Giese was impressed with his players’ unflappability on such a big stage.

“We’ve been in a lot of games, we’re averaging 10 runs a game and we were blowing teams out, and when you get in tight games against a team that’s 32-1, it’s easy to get rattled and they didn’t get rattled,” Giese said. “We just played the game in front of us and found a way. We were probably a base hit or two away from opening it up, but I give credit to that lefty of theirs, he’s a horse and he made pitches and kept them in it.”

Mrowiec and the Trojans’ Evan Foster locked up into a classic pitchers’ duel. Mrowiec’s pitch count hit 86 after five innings, but he worked an eight-pitch sixth that allowed him to finish.

“Joseph, all he does is execute the pitches in front of him,” Christiansen said. “We called a full-count curveball after some guys fouled it off three or four times. The kid is expecting a fastball and it’s not hard for Joseph to switch it up and get a curveball in the zone in a big moment.”

The Rockets’ defense played flawless behind Mrowiec. Second baseman Kaden Neuman turned in the gem of the game in the third with one out. Leadoff man Kaiden Maurer lined a shot toward right field with runners on second and third.

Neuman leaped to snare the line drive, then flipped to Wallace at second for a double play.

“About the third inning I felt it a little bit, I was definitely a little thirsty, but powered through that inning,” Mrowiec said. “When I got through the fifth, it was kind of cruise control from there.”

R-B got its first three hits in the fifth off of Foster, but Jason Miller, who doubled to lead off the inning, was caught at home plate. Miller was running on contact on Ethan Demers’ ground ball to third.

With two outs, Fischer singled up the middle to tie the score at 1-1.

R-B loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth, but Foster worked out of it with a forceout, a strikeout and a ground ball.

The Trojans were not as fortunate an inning later. Brock Wood was hit by a pitch and Fischer sacrifice bunted, but Maroa-Forsyth tried to get Wood, who was safe at second on a bang-bang play. Wallace bunted them up, Christiansen was intentionally walked and Foster struck out Neuman.

Mrowiec then drove in the biggest run of his life without swinging the bat, taking a four-pitch walk.

“I knew he was going to throw a lot of curveballs right away and I saw the first two,” Mrowiec said. “I kind of guessed he was going to throw a fastball and he throws the curveball again. I was a little nervous and antsy.”

Maroa-Forsyth, which scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth Monday to beat Monticello, 4-3, in a walkoff win, could not replicate that.

“It’s been everything I thought it would be to be here,” Trojans coach Sean Martin said. “We had a great competitive game that we could have won. It could have gone either way.

“We very easily could have lost the regional championship if Blunck doesn’t make a great play in center field. Nothing is given. There’s a lot of great schools that get beat and don’t make it to state.”

Now, R-B will play for a state title for the first time in school history. For Wood, it could be his third state title in as many sports in three seasons. He played on R-B’s 2019 Class 4A football state champions, then won the Class 1A 220-pound state championship at the Illinois Wrestling Coaches and Officials Association Summer Championships a year ago.

“I’ve told them this weekend doesn’t define them, it’s a reward for all the hard work they’ve done for two years,” Giese said. “Showing up to practices on time, doing the little things. I told them you shouldn’t feel pressure, you should feel it’s an honor to play in this game. There are not many teams that get to do it.

“They’ve done awesome and it’s a very rewarding experience as a coach to see this group here. Not just because they can play, but all the little things that allow them to play at this level.”

Richmond-Burton 2, Maroa-Forsyth 1

Richmond-Burton 000 010 1 – 2 5 0

Maroa-Forsyth 000 100 0 – 1 3 3

WP: Joseph Mrowiec (7IP, 3H, 1R, 1ER, 2BB, 9K). LP: Evan Foster (7IP, 5H, 2R, 2ER, 3BB, 4K).

Top hitters–Richmond-Burton: Joseph Mrowiec 1-3 (RBI), Ethan Schoeps 1-3 (R), Ethan Fischer 1-1 (RBI). Maroa-Forsyth: Jacob Blunck 1-2 (3B, RBI), Grant Reid 2-3.