Baseball: Joliet Central slips past Lincoln-Way Central

Updated: April 28, 2012 9:54AM

Joliet Central right fielder Cody Vancina was a one-man clinic on how to help win a tight baseball game.

Vancina climaxed his big day with an adventuresome romp around the bases Friday to score the winning run as Joliet Central slipped past SouthWest Suburban Blue foe Lincoln-Way Central 3-2 in nine innings.

Max Gawenda reached on a two-base error to open the bottom of the ninth and Vancina, who earlier belted his first home run and singled, was intentionally walked. Matthew Hall bunted into a forceout at third. However, on the throw across attempting a double play, Vancina kept coming and made third.

The squeeze was on when Domenic Roe stepped in. He fanned and Vancina was hung out to dry. But the Knights (13-9, 3-4) muffed the rundown and Vancina turned and headed home to end it.

“Probably the winning run,” Vancina said of which brought the most satisfaction, that or his home run on the bitterly cold, windy afternoon. “There was more pressure there.”

“That was a great baserunning play to go from first to third,” Steelmen coach Tony Juarez said. “To have a home run, too, Cody had a great day.”

Right-hander Cortez Woods (2-1), who followed Zach Goetschel (RBI single) and Troy Carlson to the mound for the Steelmen (8-15, 2-6), shut down the Knights over the final 42/3 innings. Not that there weren’t threats — the visitors stranded 15 runners. Dan Doherty (2-1), who relieved his brother Matt in the seventh, suffered the loss.

“They executed better than us,” said Knights coach Sean Bieterman, whose team scored in the fifth on RBI singles by Jack Krull and Kevin Mampe. “I ran us out of one inning; we just need to get better all the way around.”

“Last year we didn’t compete, this year we are,” Juarez said. “We’ve lost four one-run games.”

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