By Drake Skleba

 

LISLE ? Insanity. That is the only word to describe what took place at Lisle Community Park on Friday.

 

In an Interstate 8 crossover game between Herscher and Lisle, insanity was the name of the game. Herscher outlasted Lisle 9-8 in nine incredible innings. What the game lacked in artistry, it had uniqueness. 

 

On a sunny 65-degree afternoon, along the banks of the beautiful DuPage River, Herscher (16-2; 5-1 South) scored three unearned runs off Lisle staring LHP Ryan Van Volkenburg. After one out, a huge error and a single, the first of five hits for Herscher?s senior 1B Tyler Evans (5-for-5, HR, 3RBI) and the second out of the inning, Tiger senior LF Wes Sproul stepped to the plate. Herscher head coach Eric Regez gave the hit-and-run sign to the base runners and Sproul connected and drove the ball over the left field fence and the Tigers had a quick 3-0 lead.

 

?I had a good day at the plate,? said Sproul. ?It was good to drive in those runs in the first inning with the homer.?

 

Evans singled home his first of three RBI in the second inning to extend the Herscher lead to 4-0. Lisle broke through against Herscher 6-foot-4 junior RHP Justin Ruckman on an RBI single by Lion 3B Nick Thome (2-for-4, 2RBI).

 

In the top of the fifth, Evans hammered a two-run shot, his sixth of the season, to make it 6-1 Herscher. That?s when the remaining ounce of sanity in Lisle disappeared.

 

In the bottom of the fifth, the Herscher defense and Ruckman?s control left departed. Back to back errors and a walk loaded the bases for Lisle (14-6; 4-3 North). Lion junior LF Nick Olson (2-for-4, 3RBI) coaxed a walk out of Ruckman to force in a run, making the score 6-2. Regez pulled Ruckman for senior RHP knuckleballer Kenny Hertz. Hertz made the score 6-3 when he walked the first batter he faced, Thome. Now the uniqueness of this game came into play.

 

Lion junior RF Kazim Kahn hit what appeared to be a sac-fly and brought the Lions closer at 6-4. Out of the Herscher dugout stormed Regez and Herscher assistant coach Todd Walter with an IHSA illegal bat list in hand. After a short discussion, the umpires ruled that Kahn?s bat was indeed illegal and Van Volkenburg, who had scored on the illegal sac-fly, returned to third base.

 

Kahn appeared in the batters box this time with a legal bat and again hit a sac-fly driving home Van Volkenberg. Once again Regez and Walter stormed out of the dugout claiming Kahn had been ruled out once, and now should be called out again for batting out of order. After a lengthy discussion, the ruling was made that Kahn indeed batted out of order and the second Lisle out of the inning was recorded and once again Van Volkenburg had to go back to third base. Hertz picked up the third out of the inning and the score remained 6-3 Herscher.

 

?The bat in question was on the IHSA list of illegal bats,? said Regez. ?We knew the bat in question was on that list and immediately went to the umpires with our protest. Kahn then batted again, with a legal bat, but having been called out the at bat before, by batting again, he clearly was out of order.?

 

Lisle would strike for three runs in the sixth to tie the game at 6-6. Olson hit a shot behind third that went through the Herscher third baseman, scoring two runs. Olson was credited with an RBI single and an error was charged to the Tiger 3B allowing the second run to score. Thome then tied the game when his hopper to third ate up the third baseman for another error and we were even at 6-6.

 

With Lisle senior RHP Ed Kretch (4 IP, 3R, 6H, 2ER, K, BB) on the mound, Tiger junior Jordan Ruckman hit his third homer of the season with a man on to give Herscher a 8-6 lead. Lisle would score on RBI singles by senior C Will DeCraene and Olson to tie the score at 8 in the eighth inning.

 

?Last year we went nine innings with Lisle,? said Jordan Ruckman. ?I struggled all game and finally got my pitch and took it out.?

 

Tiger junior lefty Matt Webber (6-0) replaced Hertz with Lion runners on first and second and nobody out. Webber fanned the first two Lions he faced and then recorded the third out of the inning on a fly to right.

 

?I knew I had to come into the game and throw strikes,? said Webber. ?I really bore down and was able to keep us in the game.?

 

In the game-winning ninth, Evans led off with a single, his fifth hit of the game, and later scored on a Webber grounder to short that went right through the shortstop for the game-winner.

 

?We hadn?t played for awhile so I knew we could be a little rusty,? said Evans. ?I just tried to put the ball in play today for my teammates behind me would drive me in.?

 

Webber would knock Lisle down in order and the Herscher Tigers would enjoy a long happy bus ride home to Kankakee County.

 

?We didn?t pick up the ball very well,?? said Regez. ?Matt Webber did a great job for us in relief. Tyler Evans is a tough out right now and had a great day. We hadn?t played in nine days so I knew the physical errors were possible.?