An improbable comeback cramming two games' worth of action into the final1 ½ innings against geographical rival Oakton could be a good tutorial for Triton in upcoming playoffs.
"One-hundred percent," said leading Trojans slugger
Tommy Benson. The third baseman's two home runs were key in sparking one of the wildest Triton finishes in recent history to cement the 11-10 victory in the home regular-season finale on May 8.
"A comeback is good for players (attitude)," Benson said. "In playoff baseball, you never know what's going to happen. You need to have the ability to come back."
After a final regular-season game at Heartland scheduled for Monday, May 10, Triton will begin post-season play Thursday, May 13, at the Region 4 Division I Tournament hosted by South Suburban. The Trojans, the four-time defending regional champions are the No. 2 seed in the round-robin format and will face No. 3 seed Kishwaukee College in the opener at 10:00 a.m. Then Triton will square off against top-seeded South Suburban at 1:00 p.m.
The winner of the Region 4 tournament will host Midwest District Tournament May 19-21.
But no matter how supercharged postseason baseball can become, it would be hard-pressed to match the drama of the Triton-Oakton game that concluded with two consecutive hit batsmen with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.
After the two teams had combined for nine runs, trading leads respectively, in the bottom of the eighth and top of the ninth, Triton came out on top with the ultimate in small ball.
With one out and Oakton leading 10-9, Oakton reliever Michael Bunch permitted a one-out walk, a wild pitch and an infield hit before pinch-hitter
Joe Selby singled in the tying run.
Then, with the bases loaded,
Thomas Schroeder was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Center fielder
Adam Pottinger, who's three-run eighth-inning homer had given Triton its first lead of the game, then ended the dramatics when he was also hit on a 3-0 pitch.
"I've never seen back-to-back hit-by-pitches like that, and certainly not with a 3-0 count," said Triton coach
Harry Torgerson.
"I would say this ranks up with the best wins of the season," Benson said of his 22-12 team. "It was up and down. I'm proud we didn't give up."
You could have forgiven the Trojans for feeling down and out. Oakton racked up Triton starter
Conrad Tauer for four runs in the first. Torgerson called in
Ryan Linkletter to start a parade of Trojans relievers in the second.
Benson provided a small spark with a two-run homer off Owls starter Kyle Moore in the third. Oakton tallied another run in the fourth before
Brock Wilken cut the lead to 5-3 with an RBI triple in the fifth. A
Michael Kocen homer in the sixth sliced the deficit to one run before Oakton took a 6-4 lead in the top of the eighth.
Then the fun began in earnest. Pottinger's seventh homer almost shockingly gave Triton a 7-6 lead before Benson slugged his 11
th homer to give the hosts a three-run cushion.
"When you're in those moments, you don't overthink. You just react," said Benson.
But Oakton hardly appeared stunned at all. The Owls touched right-handers Schroeder and
Jerimiah Cangelosi for four runs, highlighted by Brandon Matias' two-run double, to take the lead again before Triton took advantage of last raps.
"They've been showing that all year," Torgerson said. "We've had a bunch of comeback wins. Once we got into the flow of the game, we picked it up."
The entertaining victory won't come at a big cost to a Triton pitching staff thinned by injuries. Torgerson had three off days in the next four to set up his playoff rotation.
"We're most effective with some of my two-way guys coming in for one or two-inning stints," he said. "We need our pitcher-only guys to step up the same way.
"Will playing (longtime rival) SSC be motivating? Absolutely. Why else do you play the game? We know their players pretty well. We're confident in our matchups, and how to pitch their guys."
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(Story by tritonathletics.com contributor George Castle)
