By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

Few, if any, gave St. Francis much thought heading into the Class 3A state tournament. And surely the Spartans’ improbable run would come to an unceremonious end against state-ranked Metamora in the supersectionals.

Not quite.

On Friday, St. Francis left little doubt of whether it belonged, as it soundly defeated Grayslake Central, 6-3, in the state semifinals to advance to the Class 3A state championship game at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.

 “We had one mindset coming into the playoffs,” said senior catcher Brett Jungles, who went 1-for-3 with two runs scored. “A lot of people doubted us, but we had confidence in ourselves. We knew what we wanted to do.”

And what the Spartans (25-11) will do now is attempt to bring the Wheaton school its first state championship on Saturday, when it will face the winner of Joliet Catholic-Mt. Vernon.

“I think we’re happy to be here, but we’re hungry to get it,” said senior third baseman Tim Zettinger.

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound Zettinger was in centerpiece of the tide-turning play that helped the Spartans pull away. With the game tied 1-1 in the fourth inning, Zettinger dropped down a well-executed suicide squeeze bunt, scoring senior first baseman Josh Croci, who led off the inning with a single. The throw to first base on the play, however, was dropped, which allowed Jungles to race around and score to give the Spartans a 3-1 advantage.

“That definitely gave us momentum; it gave us a lot of confidence,” said St. Francis senior starting pitcher Jack Petrando (7-1), who yielded five hits, two runs, struck out two and walked two in five innings work.

Said Grayslake Central coach Troy Whalen: “That was a game-changer. That kind of woke up their bats.”

Wake up their bats, indeed. The Spartans added three more runs in the fifth to extend its lead to 6-1. St. Francis opened the inning with three consecutive hits, started by sophomore shortstop Jason Sullivan’s single. After the hit, Whalen removed ace 6-foot-6 right-hander Jack Spicer (8-4) from the game.

The Spartans welcomed reliever Erik Stutnick with a single by Petrando and a run-scoring double by Croci. Senior Andrew Brundage, who entered the tournament hitting .208, delivered his second hit of the game, this time a run-scoring single. Brundage also doubled and scored in the second inning to give the Spartans a 1-0 advantage, and pitched the final two innings of relief, yielding three hits.

In all, St. Francis pounded out 10 hits in the game. Sullivan led the way with three hits, while Croci and Brundage each had two.

“They put the ball in play and put pressure on us,” said Whalen. “It’s been a long time since we’ve allowed 10 hits in a game.”

Grayslake Central (27-14) was led by its senior shortstop Ryan Fontana, who went 3-for-4 with a run-scoring single in the sixth. Sterling Dixon added a hit, run and was hit by a pitch, and junior centerfielder delivered a sacrifice fly in the third and scord in the fifth.