By Sean Duncan

 

BLOOMINGTON - Shane Conlon had already acquainted himself with O’Fallon last year. Ditto for No. 1-ranked Naperville Central. Only the two experiences were starkly different. While Conlon shutout O’Fallon in the state semifinals as a junior at St. Rita, Naperville Central had lost to the Panthers in the supersectionals.

 

On Monday in the Class 4A Illinois Wesleyan Supersectional, Conlon did it again to O’Fallon, as the left-hander threw a four-hitter and tallied three hits to lead the Redhawks to a 3-2 victory before a standing-room-only crowd.

 

The Kansas State-bound Conlon (11-0) exacted revenge for his new teammates, who had their season ended in the same game, 2-1, last year. His 10 strikeout, two-walk complete game also sends the preseason No. 1 Redhawks (36-4) to Joliet for the Class 4A state semifinals, where it will face No. 2-ranked Stevenson on Friday.

 

“This was the best I’ve felt in the bullpen in a while,” said Conlon, who threw a four-hit shutout against O’Fallon last year. “I had all my pitches going for me, which I haven’t had recently. … People expected us to get this far, and in the playoffs we’ve really come together.”

 

At the plate, the left-handed hitting Conlon went 3-for-4 with two doubles. His second double led off the Redhawks’ two-run sixth inning that broke a 1-1 tie.

 

“We’ve got Roy Hobbs on our team,” said Naperville Central coach Bill Seiple. “He swings the bats, he pitches; he does everything.”

 

Conlon struck out the side in the first inning, and later got a critical strikeout with runners on second and third in the fourth inning. Fittingly, he finished the game with a strikeout.

 

“He’s just an outstanding high school pitcher,” said O’Fallon coach Jason Portz, whose team finished 25-14 this season. “He just competes and knows how to pitch.”

 

Naperville Central senior centerfielder Matt Cmiel went 2-for-3 with a sacrifice fly in the third inning to tie the game at 1-1.  Bobby Czarnowski’s sacrifice fly in the sixth gave the Redhawks a 3-1 advantage. They also scored on a throwing error by the catcher, the game’s only defensive miscue.

 

“We wanted to face them because they knocked us out last year,” said Cmiel. “This feels great; this is what we’ve been looking forward to all year.”

 

O’Fallon, which finished third at the state tournament last year, jumped out to a 1-0 advantage in the second inning when Miles Quintal led off with a triple and scored on Rob Bohnenstiehl’s groundout. Quintal had a remarkable day for the Panthers, who defeated Minooka, 9-6, shortly before the start of the supersectional game. Against Minooka, all the three-year standout did was strikeout 11 of the 13 outs recorded in 4 1/3 innings and had four RBI, including hitting a three-run homer off of Minooka’s indomitable ace, Mike Foltynewicz, to essentially ice the game.

 

Quintal came back and started the game against Naperville Central, throwing four innings and allowing four hits and one run with three strikeouts. Quintal had to come out of the game after throwing nine innings in the day. Freshman 6-foot-2 right-hander Jacob Jarvis, who you will be hearing a lot about in the coming years, came into relief.

 

“I couldn’t be more proud of our guys the way they battled today,” said Portz.

 

In the earlier game …

 

There was a palpable buzz about the anticipated Illinois Wesleyan Supersectional between the No. 1-ranked player, Foltynewicz, and No. 1-ranked team, Naperville Central. Only one problem: O’Fallon.

 

With Minooka leading 4-1 from Saturday’s suspended sectional final, O’Fallon came ready to play and rallied to win the resumed contest 9-6 on Monday at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington. About an hour later, O’Fallon, not Minooka, was the one playing Naperville Central.

 

Minooka (37-8) came back with its sensational sophomore left-hander Josh Jimenez (12-1), who started Saturday’s game when the Indians mounted a 4-1 advantage. But on Monday, when play resumed with two outs in the top of the third, O’Fallon came out swinging. The Panthers scored three runs in the bottom of the third to tie the game.

 

Then the bottom fell out for the Indians. After O’Fallon put the first three batters on with two hits and an error, Minooka coach Jeff Petrovic brought in Foltynewicz, who entered the game with a 0.30 ERA and, hours later, was selected No. 19 overall in Monday’s Major League Baseball Draft. Cal Stierwalt greeted Foltynewicz with an RBI single to make it 6-4. Foltynewicz walked the next batter before Quintal launched a 92-mph fastball over the left-field fence for a three-run homer, making it 9-6.

 

“It took a little bit of luck,” said Quintal, who also struck out 11 in 4 1/3 innings. “[Foltynewicz] probably supplied the power.”

 

Minooka scored twice in the seventh and had the bases loaded, but Quintal struck out the final batter to end the Indians’ season. Of the 13 outs Quintal recorded, 11 were strikeouts. He also had four RBI on Monday. Minooka also committed four errors in the game.

 

“They hit the ball very hard,” said Minooka coach Jeff Petrovic. “The number that really jumps out at you is the E (errors) column. You really can’t do that. We certainly kicked it around.”