Tom Rolle improves to 5-0 on the season en route to leading the Wildcats (23-6) into Saturday's Division I District Championship Game at Strongsville High School. The second-seeded 'Cats, now winners of 18 of their past 19 games, will face fourth-seeded Normandy, which behind pitcher Mitch Kern stunned top-seeded Brecksville-Broadview Heights, 2-0, in Friday's district semifinal opener. The first pitch on Saturday is 11 AM and John Fanta '13 and the SIBN crew will bring you live audio coverage.
****Conor Hennessey's two stolen bases on Friday make him the Wildcats' all-time, single-season leader with 28 SBs, surpassing the mark of 27 set by University of Notre Dame standout Frank DeSico '09. Congratulations to Conor, his family and the entire Saint Ignatius baseball program.
HERE IS THE STORY ON FRIDAY'S VICTORY OVER MIDPARK.
Strongsville, Ohio - Saint Ignatius' senior center fielder and captain Conor Hennessey said he was just trying to play baseball the past few weeks, a stretch when it became evident that he was on the doorstep of setting a new Wildcats' single-season record for stolen bases.
"I was just trying to get in scoring position for the other guys to hit me in," said Hennessey, who now stands alone as the single-season stolen bases leader at the Jesuit Preparatory School in Ohio City (see the second-paragraph lead-in above). "We've been doing a good job of that."
I'll say.
The Wildcats, with Hennessey's single-season best 28 stolen bases being among more than 100 bases Coach Brad Ganor's team has stolen this spring, again ran with aggression and passion on a cold and windy late Friday afternoon in Strongsville. And yes, those 100-plus SBs are also an all-time, single-season mark at West 30th and Lorain Ave.
The result was a 6-2 victory over Midpark in a Division I district semifinal match up at Strongsville High School.
Heads-up base running, some small ball that featured bunting executed better than its done at the major-league level and the pitching of senior southpaw Tom Rolle showed the way to Saint Ignatius' ninth consecutive victory. The second-seeded Wildcats (23-6) will put that streak on the line Saturday morning when Coach Ganor's club returns to Strongsville High School for a match up with the fourth-seeded Normandy Invaders in an OHSAA Northeast District championship game. The first pitch is 11 AM.
"We're going to play tomorrow for tomorrow," said Hennessey, who also excelled as a football wide receiver and punt returner during his hard-nosed, leave-it-all-on-the-field career at Saint Ignatius. "We're going to get better tomorrow and then worry about the next day."
With Rolle giving Coach Ganor and Wildcats veteran pitching coach T.J. Donovan '94 very little to worry about, Saint Ignatius held a 6-0 lead after five innings.
In improving to 5-0 on the season, Rolle pitched six complete innings. He yielded three hits, two runs, two walks, hit four batters and struck out seven. Fifty nine of Tom's 84 pitches were for strikes and he started the game with the efficiency all pitching coaches savor - a five-pitch first inning and a six-pitch third inning. As for the four hit batsmen, it more of a case of Midpark's hitters willing to take one for the team on inside pitches than it was wildness.
Midpark starter Zach Charbat could probably make a case that he deserved a better fate, especially early on.
Wildcats junior designated hitter Quillen Austria led off the bottom of third with a fly ball to right-center field that was dropped after the center fielder and right fielder seemed to miscommunicate on the play.
After senior second baseman and Illinois recruit Dan Rowbottom walked, Hennessey laid down a sacrifice bunt and beat it out, loading the bases. The Meteors came up with a 5-2 force at home for the first out of the inning, only to be hurt by another perfectly executed bunt, this time off the bat of five-tool junior left fielder Nick Fabian.
Rowbottom and Hennessey both scored off Fabian's squeeze, as Hennessey, who never stopped running, crossed the plate when Midpark tried to throw Fabian out at first base. A two-out wild pitch accounted for the 'Cats' third run of the third inning.
The Meteors, who defeated Saint Ignatius in district-final match ups in 2006 and 2011, had the bases loaded with one out in the top of the fifth. However, Rolle doused the potential fire by making a quick-reaction play on a line drive off his glove and throwing the runner from third out at home. Tom then ended the threat with one of his seven Ks.
Riding the emotion of Rolle's efforts, the Wildcats took command with a three-run bottom of the fifth.
Rowbottom set the table with a base hit to right field and a stolen base. After Rowbottom moved to third on a wild pitch, Hennessey walked and stole his second base of the game - the record-setting 28th. Gifted senior shortstop and Ohio University recruit Tyler Finkler put his stamp on the bunting clinic and before Midpark's faithful could say "What the heck," two more runs scored. Fabian's sacrifice fly to deep left field made it a 6-0 game. Ok, so I cleaned the remark in quotes up a bit. This is a family corner after all.
The Meteors would give their faithful something to take home, as Coach Paul Heinbaugh's team cut the deficit to 6-2 in the top of the sixth on a walk, a double to right center by third baseman Kyle Slovick and a two-out, two-run pinch-hit single down the left-field line by Joe Krucke.
It was Saint Ignatius' evening, however, as senior right-hander Matt Lynch came on the seventh inning and, with runners on first and second and one out, ended the game with back-to-back strikeouts.
"It's good to get it out of the way," said a smiling Hennessey of the stolen-base mark. "But it's nice to have also." Part of a strong Hennessey legacy at Saint Ignatius, Conor is quite familiar with the Wildcats' rich athletic history and the outstanding player (Frank DeSico) whose record he broke.
"We like to make things happen on our own," Conor continued, in reference to Saint Ignatius' success on the base paths. "Get a guy over and get him in, that's how we get it done, as a team. It's not selfish baseball."
And Coach Ganor, who has now guided his program to its ninth consecutive district final in what is his ninth season as the Wildcats' skipper, couldn't agree more.
"It's true," Coach Ganor said. "I think we do a good job of not looking beyond our opponent. These guys are ready for the next step. We just need to keep doing it (the pressure on the base paths). The more pressure we put on them, the more plays they have to make. The higher percentages are that they won't make some of them."
ON A PERSONAL NOTE: This old-timer would like to wish the current Meteors and their coaches all of the best, now and in the future, as they are closing out the final school year as Midpark High School. Midpark and neighboring Berea High School are merging and next school year the sports programs will be known as the Berea-Midpark Titans. But again, Thank You to the Meteors and all of their coaches, past and present. It was a privilege to cover and report on your accomplishments during my nearly four decades at The Plain Dealer. God Bless, Eddie.