Baseball: Six-Run Third Propels GBN to Regional Title

Pitcher Alex Hermeling was solid as usual, but it was Glenbrook North’s hitters that made the difference in the Evanston Regional championship game.

The No. 2 seed Spartans sent ten batters to the plate in the bottom of the third. They tallied seven hits, including five in a row, and six runs in the frame en route to a 6-2 win over No. 9 Maine South Monday afternoon.

The Hawks took the lead with a run in the first inning, but GBN’s nine hitter, Brad Ruchman, led off the third with a double to start the rally. Ruchman also had a three-run double in Friday’s 9-4 semifinal win over St. Patrick.

“He’s done things like that throughout the course of the season for us,” coach Dominic Savino said. “He gives us everything we could hope for and wish for from that spot.”

After Charlie Apfelbach struck out, Brett Synek, Chad Bruce, Jason Scholl and Sean Thomas strung together four straight singles to give the Spartans the lead. Then Jack Day ripped the first pitch he saw into the left-centerfield gap for a two-run double. Another double from Ryan Slawin made it 6-1.

The big inning meant the Spartans hit their magic number of five runs or more for a game.

“That’s one of our things, we call it 'drive for five,'” said Synek, who went 3-4. “It was huge that our nine hitter got it going, Brad Ruchman. He’s been outstanding all year. Once he got it going we got the top of the order and our order 1-9 is not easy to get out.”

The five-run cushion was more than enough for Hermeling. The 6-5 right-hander struck out ten batters and pitched a complete game. The big lead allowed him to settle down after a shaky first inning.

“It gave me so much confidence,” Hermeling said. “After I gave up the first run I knew that wasn’t going to be the deciding factor. I knew our guys were going to come up and hit as well as they have all year.”

The Hawks scored in the fifth, but were unable to get another run off Hermeling. It wasn’t Hermeling’s most dominant start of the year, but given the importance he called it one of his best wins of the season.

The Hawks loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh, but John Fabiano struck out. The pitch got away from catcher Scholl, but he was able to gather it and stomp on home plate for the final out and the regional title.

With a 31-3 record and top ten rankings in both the Chicago Tribune and Sun-Times, the Spartans expect more from this season. Still, it’s the program’s first regional win since 2007, something not lost on Synek.

“I’ve actually been waiting for three years,” the shortstop said. “Sophomore year we lost in the first round. Last year we lost in the regional championship. (It’s great) just to be here with this team, with this group of guys and we’re not even done yet. This wasn’t even our goal for this year. Coming into the year we knew we had the talent to do amazing things and we’ve done that so far.”

GBN’s opponent for the sectional semifinal is No. 10 Loyola, who upset No. 3 Glenbrook South in the Notre Dame Regional final on Saturday. The two teams will meet for the first time this season Thursday at South.

“They’re on a hot streak right now, but so are we,” Synek said.

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Maine South

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