Baseball: Grant makes surprise playoff run

Updated: June 7, 2012 9:01PM

Grant’s baseball team spent the months of April and May treading water in the lightly regarded Prairie Division of the North Suburban Conference.

But after going 5-5 against teams not named North Chicago in the NSC Prairie, the Bulldogs then began play in the IHSA’s Class 4A tournament series by “winning” the Valley Division of the Fox Valley Conference.

That is, they knocked of FVC Valley teams Cary-Grove, McHenry and Crystal Lake South in their first three games of the playoffs.

After that came a one-run win over South Elgin and a dominating 7-0 win over a Schaumburg team that was a bigger surprise to make the Round of 8 than was Grant.

This weekend in Joliet, the Bulldogs will be earning a big state trophy — either for first, second, third or fourth — which will look very impressive in the school’s trophy case.

The next test is Friday at 3 p.m. against Oak Park-River Forest.

The Huskies are 28-9-1, and reached this point in the tourney by wiping out the Central Suburban League — Evanston 2-1, New Trier 8-7, Maine South 10-8 and Highland Park 1-0 —in the postseason.

The winner of Friday’s game will face Lyons or Minooka for the championship.

The last area team to win a state baseball title was Waukegan West in 1983.

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