By Drake Skleba
Senior Writer

Thursday May 22 Games

No. 7 Champaign Central 5, Urbana 3
Champaign Central (33-2; 10-2) wrapped up the Big 12 title by rallying past the pesky Tigers. Trailing Urbana 3-1 in the sixth, sophomore Jake Snider hammered a bases-clearing double to give the Maroons a 4-3 lead. The Maroons added an insurance run, which they did not need, as Maroon sophomore closer Phil Swartz struck out the side in the bottom of the seventh setting off a victory celebration on the mound for the Big 12 Conference champs.

No. 16 Libertyville 4, Grant 3
Libertyville (26-5) rallied past the Bulldogs in Fox Lake to win the NSC Championship. Trailing 3-2, the Wildcats tied things up in the top of the sixth and won it with a run in the top of the seventh. Senior Jeff Barton (5-0) was the winning pitcher and junior Mitch Townsend doubled and plated a Wildcat run.

Peoria Notre Dame 4, New Trier 2
Peoria Notre Dame (21-8) scored four times in the bottom of the sixth to stun the Trevians in West Chicago. Jarrod Watkins tied the game up with a two-run single to left and later in the inning Nick Pudik duplicated Watkins feat with a clutch two-out, two-run single to give the Fighting Irish the win. Matt Kouri allowed no earned runs and nine hits in 6.1 innings to pick up the win. Kouri had seven strikeouts. Irish closer Jake Hurst struck out the final two Trevian batters to nail down the save for Kouri. STAT NOTE: PND’s Jarrod Watkins is hitting .478 with 12 doubles, two triples, one homer, 44 runs scored and 36 RBI for the Fighting Irish.

Thursday's roundup features Bajenski quarterfinal results, Big 12, 2A regionals and much more ...