Baseball: Bartlett stuns top-seeded Geneva

Bartlett pulled off a huge upset, knocking off top-seeded Geneva 2-0 on Wednesday to advance to the finals of the Class 4A Lake Park Regional.

Despite tallying just three hits on the game, the 16th-seeded Hawks (18-19) managed to manufacture a pair of runs, and that was all they needed with senior Robert Sadowski (4-5) dialed in on the mound.

The Hawks pushed across their first run of the game in the third inning as Kyle Garcia reached on a walk, advanced to second when Robert Smith was hit by a pitch, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on an RBI ground out from Ryan Karrick.

The slow-rolling grounder from Karrick trickled past the pitcher and Garcia got a good jump, leaving the shortstop’s only play at first base.

“I knew once the ball went past the pitcher I had to go. With the corners in if there was anything up the middle I had to get a good jump and luckily I did,” said Garcia.

The Hawks then added an insurance run in the fifth when Smith drew a walk to lead off the inning. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Karrick, and then to third when an errant pick-off throw wound up in center field. He scored on a wild pitch.

“I knew hits would be limited. They had a quality pitcher in (Jordan) Touro and we knew we had to battle,” said Hawks coach Chris Pemberton. “We had to take advantage of any inch we were given and we were given a couple of those and managed to take advantage.”

Those two runs were all Sadowski needed on the mound, as he allowed seven hits and three walks but managed to keep the Vikings off the scoreboard. He changed speeds well and kept the Vikings off balance at the plate.

“I always feel confident with my fastball, but the changeup really helped me keep batters guessing today and the curve ball came to me in the end when I really needed it,” said Sadowski.

That control over three pitches allowed Sadowski to strike out eight hitters, and his coach was quick to praise his senior’s command.

“Robert has been a solid contributor for us. When he can throw a couple pitches for strikes he’s pretty unstoppable and today he was able to throw two if not three pitches for strikes on a regular basis. And when you do that you’ll win some baseball games,” said Pemberton.

While the Vikings (26-8) were shut out, they were not without scoring opportunities, as they managed at least one baserunner in each inning.

Their best chance to score came in the first inning when they loaded the bases with two outs, but Sadowski came through with a big strikeout to keep the Vikings off the scoreboard.

“We had a couple opportunities early on, and with any of the team’s out of our conference you need to come ready to play,” said Vikings coach Matt Hahn. “I told the kids after the game this one game does not take away from the body of work. We won 26 games this year, finished one game behind in the Upstate Eight and that’s a lot of accomplishments to consider.”

Touro (5-2) was the tough-luck loser, going all seven innings and allowing three hits and a pair of walks, while striking out seven.

Bartlett advances to the regional finals on Saturday, where it will take on the winner of No. 8 Lake Park and No. 9 Glenbard West. The Hawks took one of three from Lake Park earlier this season, and have not faced Glenbard West.

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