Providence flexes its postseason muscle, breezes past Lincoln-Way East for sectional title

NEW LENOX – The pitching machine at Providence was working at maximum capacity in anticipation of Saturday’s Class 4A Lincoln-Way West Sectional title game against Lincoln-Way East.

Things weren’t going particularly well, either, as the Celtics were trying to prep for the Griffins’ flame-throwing pitcher Jack Bauer.

But Providence coach Mark Smith explained the exercise wasn’t about battering the offerings of the machine, it was more about getting his Celtics used to what they were about to see.

“Yeah, we had it revved up between 97 and 101 [mph],” Smith said. “And we didn’t do too good. But it was all just to try to get the eyes trained for what it was going to look like.”

Suffice to say while that exercise didn’t produce tangible results in the run up to the game, the message got across in a big way.

Providence made Bauer labor through a 35-pitch first inning and scratched across a run, then chased him from the contest in an inning where they eventually plated eight runs in total setting the stage for a 12-0 victory in five innings.

The win lifts the defending Class 4A state champion Celtics (27-12) into the Crestwood Supersectional where they will face Brother Rice at approximately 7:30 p.m. Monday. Brother Rice defeated Mount Carmel 3-2 at the Reavis Sectional to advance.

It didn’t take long to figure out what Providence’s plan of attack would be. The Celtics consistently tried to work counts and loaded the bases with one out in the first inning, thanks to a clean single from Enzo Infelice, a walk coaxed by Nate O’Donnell and when Eddie Olszta reached on a hit-by-pitch.

Although Bauer struck out two of the next three batters, he didn’t get out of the first frame completed unscathed as Declan Kane’s high chopper on the infield led to Providence pushing across a run, which promptly energized the Celtics.

“There was just a lot of confidence in our dugout after that,” Providence’s Cooper Eggert said. “Our dugout was going crazy.”

As it turned out, that was only a prelude to something significantly larger. Blake Jenner led off the Providence second with a double and Michael Noonan followed that with a bunt single. An error and two walks followed to end Bauer’s day and after a pop out, Eggert blew things open by swatting a three-run triple.

When the dust cleared, Providence had sent 14 batters to the plate, scored eight runs and earned a commanding 9-0 lead.

“We set up our machine and we got it to go 101 at his arm slot. And we literally sat there for like an hour. It was hard and it was frustrating,” Eggert said. “But we knew if he wasn’t going to throw strikes, to make him throw strikes. To make him find the zone.

“We just played loose. We had nothing to lose. So we just played loose and were ourselves.”

Providence stacked on five more hits (the Celtics would finish the game with 15 total hits) in the fourth inning and put up three more runs to push its lead to 12-0, and a game everyone thought would be a low-scoring pitchers’ duel turned into a runaway.

Providence’s Nate O’Donnell played up to his half of the intended duel.

The senior did allow a pair of baserunners in the first inning after an infield single from Jake Newman and a single from Cooper Johnson. But a strikeout ended the threat and Lincoln-Way East (28-11) wouldn’t get another runner to second base for the rest of the game.

O’Donnell worked three spotless innings, striking out six. He was replaced early in the fourth inning, and leaves open the possibility that he could return to the mound in Monday’s game if needed, and Dominic Alberico took it the rest of the way home. After the first inning, no more than four Lincoln-Way East batters took their turn at the plate in any inning the rest of the way.

It was an explosive performance from the defending state champions, one that wasn’t foreshadowed from a team that had an uneven regular season campaign.

“Coach Smith always calls the regular season a dress rehearsal,” Eggert said. “And in the regular season there were some games where we had the energy and then some games where it was like ‘bleh.’

“But as soon as the postseason starts, it’s like this is our state right now. We’re the defending state champions. It’s like a different switch that turns on.”