Prep Baseball Report

New Trier Upends No. 6 Oak Park To Advance



By Sean Duncan
Executive Director

GLENVIEW – No. 6 Oak Park entered Saturday’s Class 4A sectional final having not allowed a run in the playoffs. With undefeated ace Hank Christie on the mound for the Huskies, the scoreless streak looked likely to continue.

Apparently no one gave the memo to New Trier.

The Trevians came out the gates swinging, and didn’t stop until it earned a 12-6 victory to win the Loyola Sectional championship and advance to Monday’s supersectional.

New Trier (27-9), which had uncharacteristically flown under the radar this spring, erupted for seven runs in the third inning to mount a 12-0 early lead and wasn’t seriously threatened the rest of the way. The Trevians pounded out 15 hits, 12 of which came in the first three innings, including three home runs.

Left-handed hitting 1B Matt Kann set the tone when he smashed an opposite-field home run the second batter Christie (9-1) had faced. In the second inning, Kann ripped a two-run double to centerfield on a down-and-in 84-mph fastball off the Northwestern-bound Christie. Kann, a 6-foot-2, 185-pound junior, finished 3-for-5 with three RBI.

Junior SS Kevin Donahue then delivered the back-breaking blow in the third inning when he crushed a grand slam to left field. New Trier opened the third inning with four consecutive hits, kick-started by junior C Dylan Horvitz’s lead-off home run to dead-center field, which ended Christie’s day. Horvitz finished 1-for-2 with three walks.

Every New Trier starter had at least one hit. Senior RF Michael Hurley had three singles, a walk, and scored two runs; junior LF Sean Douaire had two singles, two runs and a walk, while No. 9 hitter, junior CF  Eric Nicholas added a two-run double during New Trier’s four-run second inning, and had a bases-loaded walk in the third inning.

Junior RHP Jack French, senior RHP William Jamieson and senior RHP Ryan Acri combined to contain Oak Park’s offense.

The Huskies (28-8) got on the board in the third inning when senior 1B Connor Nelson connected for a two-run homer to center, his 14th of the season. In the fourth, senior RF Evan Bell added a three-run homer to left field to make it 12-5.

The Trevians now advance the 4A Schaumburg Boomers Supersectional on Monday, where they will face the winner of St. Charles North and Batavia.

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