Neuqua Walks-Off Minooka For The Regional Title

May 27, 2017

By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

Neuqua Valley 5, Minooka 4 (8 innings)

NAPERVILLE, IL – The Neuqua Regional Championship paired No. 1 Neuqua Valley against No. 15 Minooka. Neuqua (33-1-1) spotted No. 15 Minooka a four-run lead before storming back and eventually winning 5-4 in eight innings.

Left-fielder Evan Ranneklev turned out to be the hero for Neuqua on Saturday. With runners at the corners, two outs and the scored tied at four in the bottom of the eighth inning, left-handed hitting Ranneklev, came to the plate. Ranneklev worked the count full before taking a 3-2 breaking ball and lining it into center field for the game-winning/Region-Championship winning RBI single.

Neuqua, who only has one loss on the year and ranked No. 1 in the PBR Team Power Rankings, did not play their best baseball to start the game. The Wildcats spotted Minooka a four-run advantage heading into the bottom of the fourth. The Wildcats finally broke through with one out in the fourth. James Gargano, a Butler commit, lined a two-run double down the left-field line which cut the lead in half at 4-2. Ryan Wheeler, the very next hitter, one-upped Gargano by smoking a fastball over the left-field wall for a game tying, two-run homerun. The score remained tied at four until Ranneklev won it in the bottom of the eighth.

Minooka (23-11) jumped on Neuqua in a hurry with two runs in the top of the first inning. Hayden Laczynski led off the game with a single back up the middle and Jonny Butler, a Heartland CC commit, followed up with an RBI double off the left-field fence. Butler would later score on a sacrifice fly by Logan O’Brien.

Minooka would eventually climb out to a 4-0 lead, with one run in the third inning and another in the fourth. Butler doubled and scored again in the third inning and knocked in Laczynski with an RBI single in the fourth.

That would be it for Minooka’s offense, however, as Neuqua turned to senior Mason LeBreck out of the bullpen. LeBreck, who worked mainly 84-86 mph with his fastball, scattered three hits, struck out two and did not allow a run in his three-inning win out of the pen.

Gargano, Wheeler, Ranneklev and Eric Nelson all had multiple hits to lead the Neuqua offense.

Butler went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two runs and two RBI to pace the Minooka offense.

Up next for Neuqua Valley is the Sectional Semi-Final against Plainfield East on Wednesday.

For more in-depth notes from the game - and all other games that we cover - visit the Illinois Scout Blog later.