Baseball: JCA’s Schlageter tosses another masterpiece

JOLIET — In the sixth inning of the Class 2A Joliet Catholic Sectional on Saturday, Hilltopper standout pitcher T.J. Schlageter realized that he was authoring his final chapter at Gordie Gillespie Field.

He then decided he’d finish with a flourish.

Schlageter tossed a two-hitter and was dominant throughout as Joliet Catholic rolled to a 10-0, six-inning victory over Chicago Christian to secure its place in the final eight teams in Class 2A. Joliet Catholic (22-8-1), the defending Class 2A state champions, will face Spring Valley Hall at 1 p.m. on Monday at the Geneseo Supersectional in the next step in trying to defend its title.

“I realized it out there in the sixth inning and I just thought I wanted to give these fans and this community one more inning of good baseball,” Schlageter said. “I’m forever indebted to this school and they’ve did a lot for me. I’m appreciative and I wanted to end it on a good note.”

Consider the note played. Schlageter retired the first eight batters of the game before surrendering a clean single to Chicago Christian’s No. 9 hitter in the order, Austin Assink in the bottom of the third. Assink turned out to be the only person that had any hope against Schlageter, providing the Knights other hit in the game with a single in the fifth.

“That kid was scrappy,” Schlageter said. “I threw him my best stuff and he found a way to get on base. Respect to that kid.”

The effort from the Louisville recruit came as no surprise to his head coach.

“He’s your No. 1 for a reason,” Joliet Catholic coach Jared Voss said. “You get him a little bit of cushion like that you expect him to cruise.”

The only time things weren’t on cruise control for Schlageter was the fourth inning two walks and a dropped third strike extended the inning, but he wiggled off the hook by inducing a ground out to third to protect the shutout bid.

He had plenty of breathing room thanks to an offense that has come alive in this round of the postseason. The Hilltoppers have outscored opponents 21-1 in two sectional games and are hopeful that offensive momentum carries through for just a little while longer.

The Hilltoppers looked poised to hang a big number on the board early on as its first four batters reached to start off the game. Tommy Kemp singled and scored on an RBI by Jake Troyner, but a bases-loaded home to first double play helped Knights pitcher Matthew Stevens escape a potentially huge inning.

An error stretched out the Joliet Catholic second and Kemp provided an RBI single but the Hilltoppers were only able to stretch the lead to 3-0 after an odd communication error on whether or not a fly ball was caught led to a double play that kept the Hilltoppers from likely tacking on another run or two.

There was little reason to worry about things though considering the way Schlageter had things on lockdown. After striking out five batters in the first three innings, he put the game in his defense’s hands and they delivered, turning in a number of sound plays including a diving grab that ended the game in what appeared to be no man’s land by Lucas Simulick.

Joliet Catholic’s offense put the game out of reach with a pair of three-run innings in the fifth and sixth. Zach Beitler drove in two runs in the sixth while Vinny Spotoforo and Jimmy Sharp provided RBI efforts in the fifth.

Troyner, reached all four times in the game, collecting three hits and scoring three runs.

“I knew that T.J. was going to shut them down, so all we had to do was come out and get him a few runs,” Troyner said. “It started out early and we came out hot.”

Joliet Catholic needs just one more win to make a return trip to state, but Voss is quick to shut down any talk that requires considering what will happen if his team gets past Spring Valley Hall (23-8), a 12-7 winner over Macomb in the Sherrard Sectional final.

“Not to sound too cliche, but it is still one game at a time,” Voss said. “And that’s the way you have to approach it. You know how crazy this game is, especially in a single-elimination format. You get down to the final eight teams and you have to be ready to go and run out everything and do all the little things.”