No. 19 Joliet West, Herron, oust No. 12 Minooka
May 25, 2013
By Drake Skleba
Senior Writer
JOLIET – Back on March 28 in the ninth-annual Joliet Area Invitational, Joliet West’s ace right-handed pitcher Jake Herron made his first start of 2013. On that cold afternoon, Herron and his No. 19 Tigers were beat up 9-0 by Plainfield South.
In a 2013 Class 4A Joliet Central Regional Semifinal on Friday, Herron (8-1) won for the eighth consecutive time, totally dominating No.12 Minooka 4-1. With the win the Tigers will meet the same Plainfield South Cougars for the regional championship on Saturday at 11.
Herron finished up his two-hit masterpiece by striking out the side in the Minooka top of the seventh. The run Herron allowed was unearned and the three punch-outs in the seventh gave the John A. Logan College-bound right-hander six strikeouts for the game.
“I really trusted the defense today and everyone made the plays behind me,” said Herron. “I had a lot of adrenaline in the seventh to strike out the side. Minooka is a great team and I knew I had to keep coming at them. Plainfield South beat us up bad in our first game, so we are really looking forward to playing them.”
Joliet West (22-10) scored three times in the first inning against Minooka’s starting pitcher Mitch Vogrin (4-3). Herron’s batterymate, junior Kevin Ganzer, had a clutch two-run single with the bases full to give the Tigers a quick 2-0 lead. The Tigers would plate another run in the inning on a wild pitch.
“We knew they were a good team and we felt that if we could get three or four runs with Jake on the hill, we would be in good shape,” said Ganzer. “I was thinking I wanted to hit the ball up the middle but I got a curveball and ripped it down the line.”
Minooka would score an unearned run against Herron in the top of the fourth, on a sac-fly from Indian senior first baseman Max Brozovich.
The Tigers answered with a run of their own in the bottom of the fourth on a clutch two-out RBI single from DH Anthony Dinardo.
“It was great to get the three runs in the first inning and with Jake on the mound we knew we had this game,” said Dinardo. “It felt great to hit the ball well today. I had to come out and do my job.”
Tiger right-fielder Zach Thomas had a pair of singles while Tiger leading hitter, No.9 hitter Cody Grosse (.447), chipped in with a double.
“It was two conference champions going at it in the first round today. I am so happy for my guys,” said Joliet West head coach John Karczewski. “I am so proud of the way my guys have battled all year. Jake was really pitching today. Jake hit his spots all day and was ahead of the hitters.”
Minooka closes out a terrific season at 23-9. The Indians went on a 15-game winning streak to take away the Southwest Prairie Conference championship from Plainfield South.
“We had just a very bad first inning and Jake Herron pitched an outstanding game against us,” said Minooka head coach Jeff Petrovic. “It was an absolute joy for me to coach these kids this year. It must be something in the water in Minooka that produces tremendous people. I will truly miss them tomorrow.”
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