Class 4A Final Four Preview

Silver Cross Field  - Joliet, Illinois

June 8-9, 2012

By  Drake Skleba

The defending Class 4A champions from Lyons Township are back. Fellow West Suburban Conference Silver Division rival, Oak Park-River Forest is in Joliet, too.

Surprising Minooka and Grant High School of Fox Lake make up the Final Four of the historic 2012 Class 4A tournament.

Oak Park-River Forest (29-9-1) is the only Final Four team with a single-digit loss total. In what I dubbed “The Destruction of the Top Seeds” - sounds like a sequel to the “Invasion of the Body Snatcher” flicks - there were more so-called upsets than in any previous state tournament.

That’s what makes high school baseball great. The Lions of LT are looking to be the first large-school to repeat as champions since Maine Township did it in 1958 and 1959. Teutopolis and Stanford Olympia did it recently in Class 2A.

Oak Park-River Forest joins LT after finishing in a second-place tie with the Lions in what has proven to be the mighty WSC-Silver.

Grant, coming from Northern Illinois vacation-land Fox Lake, has been as big a surprise as 2011's Class 3A champion Kaneland.

If you were highly-ranked team in 2012, you didn't want to face Minooka. You probably got beat by the Indians. With Providence, Joliet Catholic, Lockport, Andrew, Moline, O' Fallon and finally Naperville Central in the U of I Super on the Indians victims list, you don't want to be the so-called favorite against the Tribe.

Semifinal Game 1

Friday, 3 p.m.

Oak Park-River Forest (29-9-1) vs. Fox Lake Grant (25-11)

Oak Park River Forest - Having finished tied for second with Lyons Township behind WSC-Silver champion York, the Huskies are old-hands at playing at Silver Cross Field. On May 17-18^th the Huskies participated in the Steven M. Bajenski Memorial Tournament, playing their first two games at Silver Cross.  The Huskies are led by Seton Hall-bound LHP Zach Weigel. Weigel is the ace of the OPRF staff with a 7-1 record with a 1.48 ERA after his three-hit shutout against Highland Park in the Rockford River Hawks Super-Sectional on Monday. Weigel, who is an outstanding CF when he is not pitching, is hitting .431 with 14 doubles, five homers and 41 RBI.

Purdue-bound C, Jack Picchiotti has hammered the baseball at a team-leading .458 clip with four bombs and 38 RBI. Huskie junior 1B Nick Kowalczuk has driven home 34 for OPRF, including the game-winner against Highland Park.

Senior RHPs, Joe McKune (6-2) and Max Guzzetta (3-1) have thrown quality innings for the Huskies.

This is the 13^th trip to state for OPRF, and the fourth under Head Coach Chris Ledbetter. The Huskies won state titles in 1942 under head coach Frank Foster and 1981, under the late-great Jack Kaiser. The Huskies also finished third, three times under Kaiser, who won 957 games for OPRF.

The Huskies finished second twice under Ledbetter, in 2001 and 2008. Ledbetter, who replaced Kaiser upon his death in 2001, is 337-127-1 in his 12^th season.
Fox Lake Grant (25-11) - From the vacation-land of Fox Lake, the Bulldogs roll into Joliet with a nine-game winning streak. The North Suburban Conference Lake Division Bulldogs defeated Schaumburg 7-0 in the Rockford Riverhawks Super-Sectional 2 on Monday night to advance to Joliet. 

Bulldog 6-foot-2, 190 pound senior RHP Jared Helmich (11-1) fired a two-hit shutout at the Saxons. Helmich has been the driving force for Grant's success in 2012. The Bulldogs pulled off a game-ending triple-play to beat highly ranked Crystal South 5-2 in the sectional semifinals and out-slugged South Elgin 12-11 in the sectional final.
Junior left-handed hitting outfielder Jake Ring is the offensive catalyst for the Bulldogs. No stats were provided by Grant.

This is the first trip to state for the Bulldogs who are 47-49 under Bulldog head coach Dave Behm in his third year at the Lake County school.

Semifinal Game 2

Friday, 5 p.m.

Lyons Township (26-12-1) vs. Minooka (27-13)

Lyons Township – The defending Class 4A state champ Lions, to quote Lion senior RHP Matt Robare: “To overcome all of the inconsistencies that we went through during the season and then come together and get back to Joliet is unbelievable.” Couldn't have said it better myself.

The Lions are led by their junior RHP/3B Keith Lehmann. Lehmann is 9-2 on the mound with a microscopic 0.86 ERA. Lehmann has 78 punch-outs in his 73 innings pitched. At the plate Lehmann is hitting .343 with 13 doubles, 7 bombs and has driven in 36. Lehmann plated all three Lion runs in LT's 3-2 Super-Sectional win at Standard Bank Stadium in Crestwood  on Monday night.

Illinois State-bound RHP/2B Steve Heilenbach has gone deep seven times with 27 RBI and a .315 BA. Heilenbach is 5-4 on the mound for LT with a 2.11 ERA.

Heilenbach did not allow an earned run in his four quality innings in relief of Robare (7-2, 1.63 ERA) on Monday night. Lion senior leadoff-man Evan Booth, is hitting .361 with seven homers and 23 RBI. Booth has scored 40 for the Lions in 2012.

This is the 10^th trip to state for LT. The Lions have won state championships in 1967 under Dick Leiber and two in 2003 and 2011, under the tutelage of head coach George Ushela.

The Lions picked up second-place trophies in 1950, under Lester Glick and 1962 under Leiber. The Lions picked up a third in 1996 under current Boston Red Sox scout Terry Sullivan and finished fourth under Ushela in 2001.

Ushela is 391-140- 4 in his 15^th year at the Cook County school. Ushela has also won three IHSBCA/Phil Lawler Summer State Championships in 2004, 2006, and 2008.

Minooka (27-13) – The giant-killers from Minooka have already had a championship trophy presentation and celebration on the Silver Cross Field turf.

Back on March 31, the Indians won the prestigious WJOL Area Invite, defeating Lemont 9-5, to put their first trophy back home in Minooka. The Indians are guaranteed to add another this weekend.

Minooka is led by their Bellarmine University-bound LHP Josh Jimenez (11-2).

Jimenez has a solid 1.68 ERA and has struck out 114 enemy batsmen in 2012. Indian senior RHP Kevin Ruff (8-5) fired a perfect game at mighty O' Fallon in the University of Illinois Super-Sectional on Monday night. Ruff has a 2.21 ERA for the Indians. Red-hot junior 3B Joe Carnagio has led the Indians play-off run, with a .333 average and 29 RBI. Indian senior Carson Neushwander is hitting .364 with three bombs and 25 RBI. Red-hot junior TJ Condon (.339, 3 HR, 26 RBI) and junior Mike Brozovich (.359, 2 HR, 19 RBI) add offensive punch to the Indian attack.

This is the third trip to state for Southwest Prairie Conference member Minooka. The Indians finished third under head coach Jeff Petrovic in 2006. Petrovic is 255-85 in his 9^th year at the Grundy County school.