By Drake Skleba

 

MAPLE PARK - Life in the Eastern Division of the Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference just got a lot more interesting. Kaneland (12-6; 8-2) entered Monday?s NIB-12 East showdown with Sycamore (17-5; 6-4) with a three-game lead entering this week?s three-game series between the two squads.

 

Behind 6-foot-2 senior closer, Trevor Mathey, Sycamore hung on to defeat the Knights 5-4 in a thriller Monday. Mathey allowed one hit in his 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief of Spartan ace 6-foot-5 Jake Turner (4-1). Turner and Mathey out-dueled Porsche Player of the Week RHP Bobby Thorson (3-2) in the first of this three-game series.

 

Sycamore won the game in the top of the sixth. With Thorson (5 2/3 IP, 5R, 6H, 1ER, 5K, 2BB) on the mound with one out, Spartan C Clark O?Donnell reached on the third Knight error of the game. After the fifth Thorson strikeout for two outs,

Spartan sophomore leadoffman Mitchell Jordan (1-for-3, BB) coaxed a walk. Kaneland head coach, Brian Aversa, went to his pen and brought in SS Kyle Davidson. With Spartan senior 2B Zack Spiewak (2-for-4, 2B, G-W RBI) at the plate, Davidson was called for a balk, moving up junior courtesy runner Nick Sullivan to third and Jordan to second. Spiewak hit a slow roller and beat it out and Sullivan scored the lead run.

 

Turner (5 1/3 IP, 4R, 5H, 2ER, 8K, 3BB) plunked a couple of Knights in the bottom of the sixth and with one out, Spartan head coach Jason Cavanaugh

went to his closer Mathey. Mathey dispatched Knight No. 9 hitter senior 2B Brian Dixon (1-for-3, RBI), who had singled home a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth. Mathey then retired Knight leadoff man Kyle Davidson to get out of the inning.

 

In the bottom of the seventh, facing the heart of the Knight order, Mathey allowed a two-out single to Thorson (2-for-4, 2B, RBI) but then retired the last Knight on a pop-up to end this thriller and give the Spartans hope in the NIB-12 East. It was the fifth save of the year for Mathey.

 

?I wanted to come in and throw strikes and get outs,? said Mathey. ?I did a good job tonight and threw the ball well. There is no place that I would rather be than on the mound in the seventh inning. We played a complete game in a must-win situation.?

 

Kaneland picked up an unearned run against Turner in the bottom of the first inning. Sycamore answered with single tallies against Thorson, in the second and third innings. Spartan senior LF Tommy Nice singled home the tying run in the second and senior SS Eric Ray?s RBI single gave the Spartans the lead 2-1 in the top of the third.

 

Thorson ripped a double to tie things up in the bottom of the third. Dixon?s big hit in the fourth gave the Knights a short-lived lead at 4-2.

 

In the top of the fifth, Spartan senior 1B Adam Dobson ripped a Thorson curve ball for a two run game tying single.

 

?We played one of our best games of the season,? said Dobson. ?It feels really good to have come up with the big-clutch hit today. I haven?t had one in awhile.

We have to continue to win all our games and get on a roll.?

 

The two squads will meet at Sycamore tomorrow and back again in Maple Park on Thursday.

 

?I thought it was a great high school baseball game,? said Cavanaugh. ?There were a number of good plays on both sides. Trevor Mathey has been our go-to guy out of the pen all season.?