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No. 2 Mount Carmel ends Lyons Township's season

May 30, 2013

By Drake Skleba
Senior Writer

BURBANK –After having their last two seasons ended by Lyons Township, the Caravan of Mount Carmel wiped away two years of frustration with a 5-3 Class 4A Reavis Sectional semifinal victory in Burbank on Wednesday.

In LT’s state championship season of 2011, the Lions dispatched the Caravan 4-1 in the Class 4A semifinals at Silver Cross Field. In the Lions Class 4A state-runner-up season last year, the Caravan fell 8-3 in the Class 4A Mount Carmel Sectional championship game.

In this game, the Lions struck first on a booming two-out, two-run double by University of Michigan-bound right-handed pitcher Keith Lehmann, in the top of the third inning. Mount Carmel answered in the bottom of the third on blast that left the premises by Caravan senior 3B Beau Filkin, to cut the LT lead to 2-1.

In the bottom of the fifth, Caravan super-soph right-fielder Josh Stowers crushed a clutch two-out, two-run double to the gap in left center to give the Caravan the lead 3-2.

 “It was a big spot in the game for me in the fifth and I got a curveball from Lehmann and really drove it,” Stowers said. “It doesn’t matter who we play on Saturday I know it will be a great game.”

In the Lion top of the sixth, Evansville-bound shortstop Stewart Nelson ripped another two-out RBI single to tie the game at 3-3.

In the bottom of the sixth, Mount Carmel sophomore first baseman Malik Carpenter led off the inning with a single. After senior DH Tom Hayes forced Carpenter at second, junior Dave Dobrinich ripped his second single of the game. Caravan catcher Scott Kapers moved both runners up to second and third with a perfectly executed sac-bunt.

With Filkins at the plate, Lehmann (8-2) unleashed a wild pitch, scoring pinch-runner CJ Pakeltis with the eventual game-winning run. The hard-hitting Filkins delivered a huge insurance run with his RBI single to give the Caravan a 5-3 lead.

“This was another overall team victory. We played good defense behind Kravetz,” said Filkins. “I had a great day at the plate. I was ahead in the count and I am real happy about my two-strike RBI single in the sixth.”

Kansas-bound left-hander Jeremy Kravetz (7-3) again came up big for the Caravan. He pitched a complete game, allowing eight hits, three runs, two earned, with four strikeouts and one walk. He allowed a one-out single in the seventh to LT catcher Sam Heilenbach and then disposed of the final two Lion hitters to effectively end the season of the preseason No. 1-ranked team.

“I just want to give credit to my defense that really backed me up today,” said Kravetz. “I think 17 of my 21 outs were made on outstanding plays by my defense. The eight guys around me are just outstanding. It was the Beau Filkins Show today. Beau is fantastic and Josh Stowers had a huge two-run double for us. It was just an all-around team victory.”

With the win, the Caravan (30-8) move on to Saturday’s 11 a.m. Class 4A Reavis Sectional Championship Game, against the winner of No. 1 St. Laurence (27-9) and No. 3 St. Rita (30-7), Thursday at 4 p.m. in Burbank.

“I thought our defense really kept us in the game early. Malik Carpenter’s great play at first, Jason’s great catch in center and Beau’s great catch at third,” said Mount Carmel head coach Brian Hurry. “Jeremy made some huge pitches when he had to and Josh’s big two-out two run double in the fifth for us was huge. Everybody on the team contributed. We’re going to just work at getting better the next two days and it should be a great game on Saturday.”

Lyons Township closes out another fine season at 25-11.

You can watch the battle between top-ranked St. Laurence and No. 3-ranked St. Rita at

www.prepbaseballreport,highschoolcube.com. The PBR’s Drake Skleba will have the call on the fourth meeting of the season between the Vikings and the Mustangs.

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