Baseball: Lemont rallies to top Sandburg in season opener

LEMONT – For most high school baseball teams – for most baseball teams at any level, really – a 3-0 count is an automatic take.

Such was not the case Saturday for Lemont in its season opener.

With one out in the bottom of the seventh and runners on second and third and the game against Sandburg tied 8-all, Lemont’s Max Michalak had a 3-0 count. It would have been easy for Michalak to take the 3-0 pitch. At best, he would have taken ball four and loaded the bases for Jacob Parr, who already had an RBI double under his belt. At worst, the pitch would have been a strike and Michalak would be able to hit with a 3-1 count.

Lemont coach Brian Storako, however, gives his players the green light on 3-0, with one caveat.

“It has to be something you can get the barrel on,” Storako said of swinging at a 3-0 pitch. “If it’s a weak blooper or a 17-hopper somewhere, then we have to have a talk about swinging at 3-0. But if it’s something they can barrel up, I am fine with them swinging 3-0.”

Michalak got a pitch he liked and put the barrel on it, driving a fastball deep into left-center to score Brett Tucker, who started the inning by reaching on an error, with the winning run in a thrilling 9-8, come-from-behind victory.

“If the pitch is good, Coach wants us swinging,” Michalak said. “I was going into it aggressive and looking for my pitch. I got a good pitch to hit, and I was ready for it.”

It would have been easy for Lemont to hang its collective head after the second inning.

Sandburg put up five runs in the top of the second to take a 6-0 lead. Lemont, however, refused to concede that the game was over and chipped away at the Eagles’ lead before putting up four runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie it at 8.

Lemont was able to score single runs in the third and fourth innings, getting an RBI double by Parr in the third and an RBI single by sophomore Tucker in the fourth. Matt Devoy, who kept Sandburg at bay on the mound in the middle innings, and Noah Tomaras each had an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to bring the score to 8-4.

Despite facing a sizable deficit, Lemont did not stray from its game plan and continued to run at nearly every opportunity. The aggressiveness paid off as they were able to creep closer.

“There’s a lot of fight in these kids,” Storako said. “I told them after the second inning that they had two options. They could pack it in, or they could keep fighting. They opted to fight.

“We are going to keep running, whether we are up or down. It’s only March 16. We want our guys, especially since so many are new, to learn how we play the game. We don’t put the brakes on.”

In the bottom of the sixth, pinch-hitter Moe Luevano led off by getting hit by a pitch. He stole second and came home on a double to Andrew Phelan. Michalak was hit by a pitch, and Parr walked to load the bases. After a passed ball scored Phelan, Tomaras slammed a double off the fence in left-center to bring home Michalak and Parr to tie the game.

Shea Glotzbach, who relieved Devoy in the fifth, retired the Eagles in order in the top of the seventh and got his team back into the dugout for the winning rally.

“We just kept playing,” Michalak said. “We had all our guys out there trying to get the job done. It was a good team win. Everybody had something to contribute to it.”