By Sean Duncan

 

JOLIET – Batting fourth in Oak Forest’s lineup isn’t the easiest of tasks.

 

“He’s hitting behind the best hitter in the state (junior outfielder Tim Barry), and that’s hard to do,” Oak Forest coach Thad Gatton said about his cleanup hitter Eric Foster.

 

Foster didn’t have any difficulties Thursday, as the senior centerfielder drove in three runs, including the game-winning sacrifice fly in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift Oak Forest to a 5-4 victory over Lemont in the Class 3A Joliet Catholic Academy Sectional semifinal game.

 

Barry certainly did his part to send the Bengals (25-7) into Saturday’s sectional final against defending Class 3A champion Joliet Catholic. Barry, who’s on pace to shatter the state’s career home run and RBI records, went 2-for-3 with two RBI, including a run-scoring triple in the first inning.

 

After Barry tied the game at 4-4 in the fifth with a sacrifice fly, the Bengals finally put the game away in the ninth when leadoff man Bobby Sheppard reached on an error and Kevin Loranger (4-for-5, three runs) recorded his fourth single of the day. Lemont (25-9) opted to intentionally walk Barry to load the bases with no outs.

 

Foster made the Indians pay, as he launched a fly ball to deep center field, which brought home Sheppard for the winning run.

 

“It was a nerve-racking game,” said Foster, who finished with three RBI. “All I was thinking was hit it hard somewhere.”

 

The Bengals wouldn’t have been in position for the win if not for the pitching performance by sophomore right-hander Kyle Funkhouser. Oak Forest committed six errors in the game, yet Funkhouser never got rattled and pitched his way out of several jams. Using an 84-87 mph fastball, Funkhouser allowed four hits, three earned runs and struck out five in seven innings before Jon Wolf pitched the final two innings to earn the win.

 

“It was tough,” said Funkhouser, who’s 10-1 on the season. “They’ve got a good lineup all the way through.”

 

Said Gatton: “[Funkhouser] kept us in the game all day. He’s tough. He throws strikes, he’s around the zone, he throws hard and he doesn’t let things bother him.”

 

Lemont threatened to break the game open in the second inning when the Bengals committed three errors, coupled with two Indian hits. Lemont had scored twice with one out, and had runners on first and third. But Funkhouser struck out the next two batters to escape the jam. In the third, two more errors had Lemont sitting pretty with runners on first and second with one out, but again Oak Forest got out of it with a double play.

 

Lemont mounted a 4-3 lead in the fifth on Mike Dvorak’s run-scoring double and Kyle Cyr’s RBI single.

 

“Both teams had opportunities and we didn’t come through,” said Lemont coach Joe Rodeghero