Baseball: Lincoln-Way West earns dramatic win over Lincoln-Way Central

NEW LENOX – In a game that was recording outs at a fast and furious rate, it looked like the last three that Lincoln-Way West needed might elude the Warriors on Monday.

After scoring two runs in the top of the eighth inning, the Warriors took the long way in getting those final three outs as left fielder Cole Crafton fired a bullet to catcher Kaleb Wilkey to cut down Collin Mowry at the plate on what looked like it would be a game-tying, two-run single from Jack Novak. Instead, the third out was recorded, and Lincoln-Way West escaped with a 4-3, eight-inning victory over Lincoln-Way Central in SouthWest Suburban Conference play.

“All of the sudden, I see Collin chugging down the line, and I was kind of scared that our third baseman [Anthony Massa] was going to cut it off, but he didn’t,” Wilkey said. “And Cole gave me a perfect hop. And to be honest, that’s one of the first times I’ve ever been able to catch a ball and put a tag on a guy at home plate.”

It was a circuitous route to the win for the Warriors (20-6, 8-2 SWSC) once they entered the eighth inning.

Cam Buckley led off the inning with a single but was quickly washed off the books after being caught stealing. That decision looked even more ominous when Connor Essenburg ripped a double to the fence. Wilkey drew a walk to put runners on first and second, Crafton smashed an RBI single, and Dominic Saso added what turned out to be an important insurance run on an RBI groundout.

Things immediately took a turn in favor of Lincoln-Way Central (18-9, 6-4) in the bottom of the eighth.

Luke Mensik opened the inning by drilling a ball to center field that Buckley got a bad read on and played into a leadoff double.

Mowry then stepped in and lofted a towering pop-up on the infield that fell harmlessly to the ground when no Lincoln-Way West defender took charge of the play. So instead of potentially two outs and nobody on, there were two on and nobody out.

It looked for a moment that the situation was about to get much worse for Lincoln-Way West when Landon Mensik ripped a fly ball deep to left field, but Crafton was able to run it down along the fence line for the first out. Reliever Colton Kachinsky coaxed a ground ball out, but that allowed the runners to move up to second and third.

Novak, who already had reached base three times and recorded both Lincoln-Way Central RBIs, laced a clean single to left that seemed to be pushing the game toward another tie. Luke Mensik scored easily, but Crafton threw the ball on a line to the plate, allowing Wilkey to slap on the tag and secure the win.

The offensive theatrics of the eighth inning were a far cry from the pitchers’ duel that emerged over the first seven innings of the game between Lincoln-Way West’s Essenburg and Lincoln-Way Central’s Donovan Dykas.

Dykas seemed destined for a short start after the first four batters of the game. He hit Buckley, allowed singles to Essenburg and Wilkey, then a two-run double to Crafton before recording an out. But he settled in quickly, wriggled off the hook with only the two runs and proceeded to hold Lincoln-Way West hitless for the next six innings.

Essenburg was a bit flashier. He struck out the side in order in the first on his way to a 10-strikeout performance. Like Dykas, he had one hiccup, a two-run fourth thanks to a two-run double from Novak, but also like Dykas, he was able to limit the inning to two runs.

He also finished with a flourish, with strikeouts on five of the last six outs he recorded before departing the pitcher’s mound after seven innings of work.

“The two-seam fastball was working pretty well for me today,” Essenburg said. “I’m a pretty energetic pitcher, I wear my emotions on my shoulders, but it works sometimes.”

Lincoln-Way West coach Jake Zajc has learned to expect nothing less form the fierce rivalry contest, although this one ranks pretty high on the list of storied games between the two.

“It’s what we expected,” Zajc said. “Central’s a great team. You really can’t put words to what that was. Both teams battled. And man, what a finish.”