By Drake Skleba

 

ROCKFORD ? What?s wrong with the Mid-Suburban League? The Mid-Suburban League is really down this year?That was the consensus about the perennially strong conference in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.

 

On Monday night in the Class 4A Rockford RiverHawks Stadium Supersectional, Prospect, the MSL Champs, shut up all the MSL naysayers.

 

Behind Knight ace junior RHP Jack Landwehr, Prospect (26-8) hammered No. 5 Glenbrook North 8-2 to advance to the Class 4A semifinals at Silver Cross Field in Joliet on Friday afternoon. Landwehr (13-2) went the distance against GBN, scattering eight hits and allowing two runs. Landwehr also had a double and a single in three plate appearances and drove in two runs.

 

?I wanted to pitch today,? said Landwehr. ?I changed speeds and kept the ball low. Keep him guessing. I have been struggling a little at the plate and I came out hacking today.?

 

No. 5 Glenbrook North (33-4) scored a run off of Landwehr in the top of the first inning. Red-hot Spartan SS Brett Synek (2-for-4, run) singled with one out and scored on a clutch two-out RBI single by Spartan junior C Jacob Scholl.

 

The Knights struck for three runs in the bottom of the fourth off of Spartan senior LHP Sean Thomas (7-2). With one out, Knight senior CF Peter Bonahoom ripped a triple, his second hit of the game. Landwehr then ripped a double, scoring Bonahoom and we were tied at 1-1. Senior 1B Brian Bauer delivered another triple to give the Knights a 2-1 lead. Senior C Kurt Donner followed with an RBI single, scoring Bauer, and the Knights led 3-1.

 

?It?s just incredible,? said Bonahoom. ?I have played football and baseball for three years at Prospect and this is the furthest I have ever got. What a great way to go out.?

 

The Landwehr-Bauer duo struck again in the fifth. Landwehr singled home leadoff man senior Luke Bergman (2-for-4, 2B, RBI), who had singled and Bauer drove home his second run of the game with a double.

 

?It feels great to make it to Joliet and the state semifinals,? said Bauer. ?The wind was definitely at our backs today. It?s great to see all of our hard work in the off-season pay off.?

 

The Knights tacked on three more runs against GBN reliever junior RHP Peter Resnick to put this one away in the bottom of the sixth. Bergman plated a run with a double and Knight senior 2B Matt Molini drove home a pair with another clutch two-out two-run single. The last four Knight runs all came after two outs.

 

?We really came to play today. From the first pitch of the game we really played great,? said Prospect head coach Ross Giusti. ?Our approach at the plate was outstanding and we really put pressure on a great Glenbrook North team.

 

I have had some real competitive kids over the years but Jack Landwehr is at the top. What a fierce competitor.?

 

Glenbrook North closes out a sensational season at 33-4.

 

?I?m just really proud of my team,? said Glenbrook North head coach Dominic Savino. ?I?m going to really miss their great approach to the game of baseball. They were very good baseball players but they were even better people.? 

 

Once again, on Friday afternoon around 3, the Mid-Suburban League champs from Prospect will be underdogs, as the Knights will take on No. 1 Providence Catholic (36-3) of New Lenox. Providence crushed Edwardsville 13-3 in the Class 4A University of Illinois Supersectional in Champaign on Monday night.

 

?We are always the underdog,? said Bonahoom. ?Might as well go out and give it our best and take down somebody who is at the top.?