Baseball: Simeon edges Harlan, advances to supersectionals

Updated: June 2, 2012 7:18PM

Simeon came up with big defensive plays at just the right time and held off a late Harlan rally to capture the Class 3A Washington Sectional championship Saturday with a 3-2 victory over its Jackie Robinson South rivals on Saturday afternoon.

The Wolverines (31-7) will face Marian Catholic on Monday in a supersectional at Standard Bank Stadium in Crestwood.

‘‘This is just another game to us,’’ Simeon pitcher Shane Brown said. ‘‘We haven’t won anything yet. We have a lot more pitching and a lot more hitting than we showed today.’’

Brown (9-1) picked up the victory by working five scoreless innings. The senior lefty allowed base runners in every inning but managed to work his way out of jams with some stellar defensive plays.

Harlan (27-12) had runners on first and second with one out in the fourth inning when a wild pitch bounced back to catcher Blake Hickman who gunned down Terrell Steward trying to advance to second.

In the next inning, Harlan was threatening again when Brown was facing runners on first and second, Brown deflected a sure-fire base hit off the bat of Tyler Johnson that was headed up the middle. The ball went directly to second baseman Ronnell Coleman who got the out at first to save a run from scoring.

‘‘We had our three and four hitters up there three times with the chance to score and we only came through once,’’ Harlan coach Kenny Pullman said. ‘‘I will take those odds any time though.’’

Simeon jumped ahead 1-0 in the third inning when Darien Clifton scored from third on a wild pitch. He walked to get on board, stole second and then moved to third on an infield hit.

Clifton again played a big part in the Wolverines’ two-run fifth inning. The junior was bunting Terrence Robertson over to third when his sacrifice turned into a throwing error by third baseman Andre Hogan, Jr. Robertson, who started the inning with a double, came around to score on a base hit by Marshawn Taylor and Clifton scored the game-winning run on another error.

‘‘It’s a great feeling to contribute to the victory,’’ Clifton said. ‘‘I was able to score by getting the bunt down.’’

Hickman came into relieve Brown in the final two innings and saw the first two hitters reach base in the seventh. Daniel Lucas, Jr. and Arramis Johnson both scored when an infield single turned into an error as Taylor was trying to pick off Johnson at third. Hickman settled down to end the game on a double play ball to Taylor.

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