CHAMPAIGN — Carson Wort made the most of his final high school baseball game for Pawnee by hitting a triple, a home run, scoring four runs and driving in a pair of RBIs as Pawnee beat Lexington 9-4 to win the Class 1A third-place game trophy on Saturday at the University of Illinois’ Illinois Field.
Pawnee trailed the Minutemen 4-1 after three innings before scoring eight runs over the final three innings.
Pawnee’s rally began when Wort drew a leadoff walk to start the bottom of the fourth, then he moved to second on Coy Clarke’s one-out single. Wort and courtesy runner Ty Lederbrand pulled off a double steal and Wort scored on a wild pitch. With two outs, Carter Morell singled to center to score Lederbrand.
Pawnee (24-14) put Lexington down 1-2-3 in the fifth. In its half, Pawnee got a two-out walk from Gavin Greer, Wort was hit by a pitch before Hudson Wort was also hit by a pitch to load the bases. Clarke hit a two-run single to right field to give Pawnee a 5-4 lead.
Pawnee extended its lead in the sixth inning quickly. Morell drew a leadoff walk and stole second before Carson Contreras hit an RBI double to left. Torsten Polistina gave Pawnee runners at the corners on a bunt single and Greer followed that with another bunt single, which scored Contreras for a 7-4 lead.
Wort polished off the win with a two-run homer to left.
Greer got the win with 4 1/3 scoreless innings pitched in relief. He struck out five and allowed one hit, no walks and one hit batter.
Carson Wort, Clarke, Contreras and Polistina all had two hits apiece for Pawnee.
Pawnee falls in Friday’s semifinal game
With two on and two outs, Pawnee’s Coy Clarke barreled up a pitch and drove in the first run of the IHSA Class 1A baseball state semifinals.
The rest of the game was all Father McGivney as the Griffins of Glen Carbon beat Pawnee 16-1 in four innings on Friday, June 6, at Illinois Field on the University of Illinois campus.
“I think we were ready to go,” Pawnee coach Chris Hennemann said. “Our hitters got some good swings off and we hit some balls they made good plays on, too. We were putting the bat on the ball and offensively, I thought we were ready to go.”
Pawnee (24-14) will meet Lexington (19-12) at 10 a.m. on Saturday in the third-place game. Ottawa Marquette (34-3) and Father McGivney (38-3) will meet for the title at 1 p.m.
Pawnee’s quick attack
Pawnee’s Gavin Greer reached on a bunt single with one out and moved to second when Carson Wort was hit by a pitch. With two outs, Clarke singled to center field to drive in Greer.
“I was looking for a fastball, just ready to attack, be aggressive with anything,” Clarke said. “I don’t know if I’ll hit in college, but I’m sure of one thing: that I’ll get after it, I’ll compete in the box and that’s what I did on the first pitch.”
The Griffins tied the game 1-1 in the bottom of the first when Drew Kleinheider hit a sacrifice fly to score Omar Avalos, who reached on a one-out triple.
Pawnee was still in good shape despite stranding a runner in the top of the second and had two outs on the Griffins with none on in the bottom half before Father McGivney loaded the bases on two singles and a walk before Kannon Kamp picked a good time for his first home run of the season and unleashed a bomb to the scoreboard beyond the right-field fence for a 5-1 lead.
Everything unraveled for Pawnee from there, as the Griffins scored eight in the third, and three in the fourth to end the game by the 15-run mercy rule.
Marquette also trailed 1-0 before scoring 16 straight in the first semifinal to win in four innings.
Pawnee, in the state semifinals for the first time in program history, had won five straight games before Friday’s loss.
“Our pitching didn’t really come through like we needed it to and when you play a really good team with a lot of good hitters, you can’t put extra guys on base. We did that way too much today.”
Kamp had six RBIs for the Griffins, while Kleinheider knocked in three runs, and Avalos went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs. Ty Etcheson also had two hits for the Griffins.
Greer, Clarke and Carson Contreras had Pawnee’s three hits. Wort reached twice after being hit by pitches.
Contact Ryan Mahan: 788-1546, ryan.mahan@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/RyanMahanSJR.
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: Pawnee bounces back to take third place after Friday’s loss in baseball state tournament
Reporting by Ryan Mahan, Springfield State Journal- Register / State Journal-Register
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