New Trier Baseball: Leyden's Six-Run Sixth Inning Stuns Trevians

Anybody that’s ever listened to a Chicago White Sox broadcast, knows that one of broadcaster Ken “Hawk” Harrelson’s well-known catch phrases is “the dreaded leadoff walk.”

Harrleson’s ominous adjective certainly played true for New Trier on Wednesday afternoon as leadoff walks in two different innings led to all nine of Leyden’s runs in a 9-8 loss in the IHSA Class 4A Glenview Sectional semifinals.

“You can’t walk guys. That’s something that’s not rocket science,” said New Trier coach Mike Napoleon, whose pitchers walked 11 batters in six innings. “When you walk that many, naturally it’s going to come back and bite you and it did today.”

Starting pitcher John Cook had trouble with his command from the get-go. He walked two batters in the first inning and loaded the bases with three walks in the second. Leyden’s Carlos Olavarria made him pay with a bases-clearing triple to the right-center gap, staking the Eagles to a 3-0 lead.

New Trier responded in the fourth inning when Campbell Lipe belted a two-run home run just over the right-field fence, cutting the lead to 3-2.

“He’s a big kid, a big junior for us,” Napoleon said. “He really got us sparked a bit against [Leyden pitcher Justin Stawychny]. I see him doing some big things for us next year as well.”

The Trevians would take the lead in the fifth thanks to junior Christian Carr’s RBI triple and a run-scoring single by senior shortstop Eddie Fay two batters later. Lipe walked with the bases loaded to force in another run, giving New Trier a 5-3 lead.

New Trier tacked on three more in the sixth as Josh Perlmutter provided the big hit with a two-run single through the left side of the infield.

Pitcher Brian Kost, who relieved Cook after only 1 2/3 innings, looked in control starting the sixth inning. The senior right-hander had cruised through the last three innings, not allowing a runner past second base.

But things unraveled quickly after a leadoff walk to Leyden’s Nick Dimaso. After Kost induced a groundout for the first out of the inning, Leyden’s next three batters reached base, scoring a run. Kyle Nitiss relieved Kost, but didn’t fare any better. Stawychny fisted a two-run single into short left field and Eric Palmer followed with a three-run home run to right field, giving Leyden a 9-8 lead.

“It’s just one of those things, 17- or 18-year-old kid,” Napoleon said of Kost’s struggles in the sixth inning. “I’ve seen [Cubs pitcher Carlos Marmol] do that.”

New Trier had runners on first and second with two outs in the top of the seventh, but Charlie Tilson grounded out to end the game.

“We believe we can beat anybody in the state and I think we showed it today, we had them on the ropes,” said Fay, a two-year varsity member. “We never stopped believing, even down 3-0, we knew that wasn’t going to beat us and we just battled to the end. It just didn’t work out.”

Wednesday’s loss capped an accomplished career for New Trier’s seniors. Some of them won a state championship in 2009 along with regional titles the past two seasons.

Even after 700 victories and more than 25 years of coaching, Napoleon noted how special the class of 2011 was.

“I love the senior class. They’re hard-working kids and I enjoyed going to practice every single day,” Napoleon said. “If every senior class is as enthusiastic and hard-working as this one, I’ll be coaching for another 26 years.”