Grey Ghosts Refocus, Take Third
IVC wins Class 2A Third-Place Game over Immaculate Conception 6-4 ...
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At Silver Cross Field (6/5/10)
Joliet
Class 2A State Consolation
IVC 6, Elmhurst Immaculate
Conception 4 (5 inn.)
IVC (6) – Trevor Black ss 1-0-
0-0, Nick McCredy ss 1-0-0-0,
Dan Semtener 2b 3-1-2-0,
Derek Sprout c 3-2-2-1,
Drasen Johnson p 1-0-0-0,
Brock Adcock ph/p 2-1-1-2,
Alex Bradley 3b 1-1-1-0, Matt
Welch 3b 1-0-0-0, Keegan
Horack lf 2-0-0-0, Travis
Thacker cf/rf 2-1-2-2, Nick
Brenner rf 2-0-0-0, Braden
McIntyre p 0-0-0-0, Thomas
Foley dh 2-0-0-0, Cody
Kentzel 1b 0-0-0-0. Totals: 21-
6-8-5.
EIC (4) – Matt McMahon p 3-0-
0-0, Kevin Nutley cf 3-1-1-0,
Jose Godinez c 3-1-1-2,
Carlos Rodriguez rf 1-1-1-0,
Austin Hennessy 1b 2-0-1-1,
Steve Maloney ss 3-0-0-0,
Robert Rivera dh 2-0-1-0,
Matt Jakubowski dh 0-0-0-0,
Brian Harvey dh 0-1-0-0, Dan
Ribando lf 1-0-0-0, Matt
Vesey lf 0-0-0-0, Jason
Ramirez lf 1-0-0-0, Charlie
Pulkownik lf 0-0-0-0, John
Losurdo 2b 2-0-0-0, Luke
Stanczyk 2b 0-0-0-0, Tommy
Hart 3b 0-0-0-0. Totals: 21-4-
5-3.
IVC 022 02 – 6 8 3
EIC 012 10 – 4 5 0
LOB - IVC 2; EIC 5. 2B -
Sprout 2. 3B -Semtener. HR -
Adcock; Thacker; Godinez.
HBP - Black; Rodgiguez. SB -
Sprout; Losurdo. CS -
Thacker. HBP - by McMahon
(Black); by Johnson
(Rodgiguez). BK - Johnson;
McMahon.
IVC ip r er h bb k
Johnson 2.0 2 1 1 0 1
Adcock (W, 6-0) 1.1 3 3 2 1 2
McIntyre (S) 1.2 0 0 0 1 4
EIC
McMahon (L, 7-3) 5.0 8 6 6 1 6
Records: IVC (33-6), EIC (30-
12).
Joliet
Class 2A State Consolation
IVC 6, Elmhurst Immaculate
Conception 4 (5 inn.)
IVC (6) – Trevor Black ss 1-0-
0-0, Nick McCredy ss 1-0-0-0,
Dan Semtener 2b 3-1-2-0,
Derek Sprout c 3-2-2-1,
Drasen Johnson p 1-0-0-0,
Brock Adcock ph/p 2-1-1-2,
Alex Bradley 3b 1-1-1-0, Matt
Welch 3b 1-0-0-0, Keegan
Horack lf 2-0-0-0, Travis
Thacker cf/rf 2-1-2-2, Nick
Brenner rf 2-0-0-0, Braden
McIntyre p 0-0-0-0, Thomas
Foley dh 2-0-0-0, Cody
Kentzel 1b 0-0-0-0. Totals: 21-
6-8-5.
EIC (4) – Matt McMahon p 3-0-
0-0, Kevin Nutley cf 3-1-1-0,
Jose Godinez c 3-1-1-2,
Carlos Rodriguez rf 1-1-1-0,
Austin Hennessy 1b 2-0-1-1,
Steve Maloney ss 3-0-0-0,
Robert Rivera dh 2-0-1-0,
Matt Jakubowski dh 0-0-0-0,
Brian Harvey dh 0-1-0-0, Dan
Ribando lf 1-0-0-0, Matt
Vesey lf 0-0-0-0, Jason
Ramirez lf 1-0-0-0, Charlie
Pulkownik lf 0-0-0-0, John
Losurdo 2b 2-0-0-0, Luke
Stanczyk 2b 0-0-0-0, Tommy
Hart 3b 0-0-0-0. Totals: 21-4-
5-3.
IVC 022 02 – 6 8 3
EIC 012 10 – 4 5 0
LOB - IVC 2; EIC 5. 2B -
Sprout 2. 3B -Semtener. HR -
Adcock; Thacker; Godinez.
HBP - Black; Rodgiguez. SB -
Sprout; Losurdo. CS -
Thacker. HBP - by McMahon
(Black); by Johnson
(Rodgiguez). BK - Johnson;
McMahon.
IVC ip r er h bb k
Johnson 2.0 2 1 1 0 1
Adcock (W, 6-0) 1.1 3 3 2 1 2
McIntyre (S) 1.2 0 0 0 1 4
EIC
McMahon (L, 7-3) 5.0 8 6 6 1 6
Records: IVC (33-6), EIC (30-
12).
Photo by Cody Cutter
By Cody Cutter
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Publisher
JOLIET - If Friday's seven-error performance was one of IVC's most forgettable games of
the year, Saturday's game with Elmhurst Immaculate Conception would go down as one of
their most memorable.
The Grey Ghosts and the Knights played in the Class 2A Consolation game at Silver
Cross Field in Joliet. Although it wasn't the big game they were hoping to be in, the Grey
Ghosts were able to bounce back from Friday's loss and post a 6-4 win to claim the third-
place trophy.
Together with fellow seniors Drasen Johnson and Cody Kentzel, Derek Sprout concluded
his career having been a part of two state-placing teams. Sprout capped his career with a
win in his final game going 2-for-3 at the plate with a RBI and two runs scored.
The Bradley-bound catcher broke a 4-4 tie in the fifth inning. After Dan Semtener hit a
triple to deep right field, Sprout slapped an 0-2 pitch from IC's Matt McMahon to center
field to plate Semtener and go up 5-4. After advancing to third base on a balk, he had his
eyes on pinch-hitter Matt Welch's at-bat.
After a ball was called on Welch, IC catcher Jose Godinez threw the ball back to McMahon
in a way Sprout noticed was not something to do at the catcher's position. Taking
advantage of a lob, Sprout dashed home safely to give his team a 6-4 lead.
“I just noticed the catcher was dropping to his knees and lobbing the ball back to the
pitcher,” Sprout said. “And I said, ‘Coach, I’m going to go,’ and he (IVC coach Jerry
Rashid) said, ‘Go ahead,’ so I took off and made the dash to home plate.”
The fifth inning runs were all IVC (33-6) needed to secure the win. That was because
severe weather was on the way to Joliet, and the IHSA made a decision to shorten the
game to five innings in anticipation of a delay.
All IVC needed to do after that was get three outs and win the game. Grey Ghost closer
Braden McIntyre struck out two of the first three batters before getting Steve Maloney to
pop up to Welch to end the game.
“I thought with the pressure of a five-inning game you never know what is going to
happen, and our kids did a great job,” Rashid said. “I’m really proud of them to come back
from a tough outing last night and play well today.”
The Grey Ghosts had the lead for the entire game. The first two runs of the game came in
the top of the second inning with Travis Thacker's fourth home run of the season.
Thacker hit a 1-0 fastball from McMahon into left field to score not only him but Alex
Bradley, who led off the inning with a single.
Thacker's round-tripper was less than 24 hours after homering the lone run of their game
on Friday.
“I’m just seeing the ball real good,” Thacker said. “There must be something in that hotel
cereal.”
Johnson, who was the starting pitcher for IVC, also had a two-run home run, taking a 1-1
pitch across the right field fence in the third inning to also bring in Sprout, who singled.
Godinez countered Johnson's shot with one of his own in IC's half of the third. He took a 1-
1 pitch from Johnson over the right field fence to also bring in Kevin Nutley, who reached
on a duck-snort single. IC (30-12) was still in contention albeit trailing 4-3.
“After that I thought everyone was going to get excited, and we were,” Godinez said about
his hit.
The Knights tied it up in the fourth inning as the Grey Ghosts showed familiar signs of
flawed infield play. They committed three errors in that inning – the first two with Knight
runners reaching. The third error came on a stolen base attempt.
Before the Knights could figure out how to establish a comeback, the stoppage of the
game after five inning stopped them short.
“Maybe if the game had gone the full seven, we could have kept it going,” McMahon said.
“We're typically a late-inning team. We didn't get the last couple of hits we needed, but we
charged at the end. We gave it all we had.”
Johnson pitched the first two innings, striking out one and scattering just two hits. Brock
Adcock then came in and allowed three runs and three hits. McIntyre pitched one-and-two-
third innings, striking out four of six batters faced.
Every IVC player available to play played on Saturday, making sure that even those who
have not played on certain diamonds over the course of the season were playing on this
one.
“I wanted everybody to get a chance to play on this field,” Rashid said. “I know it might
sound corny, but they all put their time in and they all worked to get here.”
McMahon allowed eight hits and six earned runs while striking out six. No Knight batter
had more than one hit on the game, but Rodriguez and Austin Hennessy reached base
twice.
“Obviously, when you make it down this far you're going to face good competition, and I
think we did a pretty good job,” Knights coach Dan Holleman said. “A couple mistakes
here and there and that was the difference in the ballgame today.”
A reception for the IVC team will be held today at 1:00 p.m. at the auxiliary gym of IVC
High School.
“It means a lot because we didn’t do very well yesterday,” Rashid said about winning third.
“That was a bad outing for us. We wanted to make amends and show we’re a better
ballclub than that, and I thought we did a good job of that.”
“I wanted to go out on top,” Sprout said. “There are two teams in Class 2A that go out with
a win, and we wanted to be one of them.”
Cody Cutter is Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
Northern Illinois Sports Beat Publisher
JOLIET - If Friday's seven-error performance was one of IVC's most forgettable games of
the year, Saturday's game with Elmhurst Immaculate Conception would go down as one of
their most memorable.
The Grey Ghosts and the Knights played in the Class 2A Consolation game at Silver
Cross Field in Joliet. Although it wasn't the big game they were hoping to be in, the Grey
Ghosts were able to bounce back from Friday's loss and post a 6-4 win to claim the third-
place trophy.
Together with fellow seniors Drasen Johnson and Cody Kentzel, Derek Sprout concluded
his career having been a part of two state-placing teams. Sprout capped his career with a
win in his final game going 2-for-3 at the plate with a RBI and two runs scored.
The Bradley-bound catcher broke a 4-4 tie in the fifth inning. After Dan Semtener hit a
triple to deep right field, Sprout slapped an 0-2 pitch from IC's Matt McMahon to center
field to plate Semtener and go up 5-4. After advancing to third base on a balk, he had his
eyes on pinch-hitter Matt Welch's at-bat.
After a ball was called on Welch, IC catcher Jose Godinez threw the ball back to McMahon
in a way Sprout noticed was not something to do at the catcher's position. Taking
advantage of a lob, Sprout dashed home safely to give his team a 6-4 lead.
“I just noticed the catcher was dropping to his knees and lobbing the ball back to the
pitcher,” Sprout said. “And I said, ‘Coach, I’m going to go,’ and he (IVC coach Jerry
Rashid) said, ‘Go ahead,’ so I took off and made the dash to home plate.”
The fifth inning runs were all IVC (33-6) needed to secure the win. That was because
severe weather was on the way to Joliet, and the IHSA made a decision to shorten the
game to five innings in anticipation of a delay.
All IVC needed to do after that was get three outs and win the game. Grey Ghost closer
Braden McIntyre struck out two of the first three batters before getting Steve Maloney to
pop up to Welch to end the game.
“I thought with the pressure of a five-inning game you never know what is going to
happen, and our kids did a great job,” Rashid said. “I’m really proud of them to come back
from a tough outing last night and play well today.”
The Grey Ghosts had the lead for the entire game. The first two runs of the game came in
the top of the second inning with Travis Thacker's fourth home run of the season.
Thacker hit a 1-0 fastball from McMahon into left field to score not only him but Alex
Bradley, who led off the inning with a single.
Thacker's round-tripper was less than 24 hours after homering the lone run of their game
on Friday.
“I’m just seeing the ball real good,” Thacker said. “There must be something in that hotel
cereal.”
Johnson, who was the starting pitcher for IVC, also had a two-run home run, taking a 1-1
pitch across the right field fence in the third inning to also bring in Sprout, who singled.
Godinez countered Johnson's shot with one of his own in IC's half of the third. He took a 1-
1 pitch from Johnson over the right field fence to also bring in Kevin Nutley, who reached
on a duck-snort single. IC (30-12) was still in contention albeit trailing 4-3.
“After that I thought everyone was going to get excited, and we were,” Godinez said about
his hit.
The Knights tied it up in the fourth inning as the Grey Ghosts showed familiar signs of
flawed infield play. They committed three errors in that inning – the first two with Knight
runners reaching. The third error came on a stolen base attempt.
Before the Knights could figure out how to establish a comeback, the stoppage of the
game after five inning stopped them short.
“Maybe if the game had gone the full seven, we could have kept it going,” McMahon said.
“We're typically a late-inning team. We didn't get the last couple of hits we needed, but we
charged at the end. We gave it all we had.”
Johnson pitched the first two innings, striking out one and scattering just two hits. Brock
Adcock then came in and allowed three runs and three hits. McIntyre pitched one-and-two-
third innings, striking out four of six batters faced.
Every IVC player available to play played on Saturday, making sure that even those who
have not played on certain diamonds over the course of the season were playing on this
one.
“I wanted everybody to get a chance to play on this field,” Rashid said. “I know it might
sound corny, but they all put their time in and they all worked to get here.”
McMahon allowed eight hits and six earned runs while striking out six. No Knight batter
had more than one hit on the game, but Rodriguez and Austin Hennessy reached base
twice.
“Obviously, when you make it down this far you're going to face good competition, and I
think we did a pretty good job,” Knights coach Dan Holleman said. “A couple mistakes
here and there and that was the difference in the ballgame today.”
A reception for the IVC team will be held today at 1:00 p.m. at the auxiliary gym of IVC
High School.
“It means a lot because we didn’t do very well yesterday,” Rashid said about winning third.
“That was a bad outing for us. We wanted to make amends and show we’re a better
ballclub than that, and I thought we did a good job of that.”
“I wanted to go out on top,” Sprout said. “There are two teams in Class 2A that go out with
a win, and we wanted to be one of them.”
Cody Cutter is Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He can be reached at
Northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com. --- Talk about what's written on our Message
Boards!
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