Everything went wrong for the Triton baseball team until the one time it went right, at nearly the last possible moment.
Olive-Harvey, 10-37 coming in, came within two outs of only their third-ever victory over Triton, proud and 35-18 at games' start. But baseball is so unpredictable, as it was for almost an entire sun-splashed afternoon.
So Trojans center fielder
Antoine Harris overcame a series of home-team mishaps with a walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth for a 7-6 victory in the opening game of the double-elimination Region 4 Division I Tournament at Symonds-Puckett Field.
Triton booked a second-round game at 1 p.m. Thursday, May 11 at home against longtime rival South Suburban College, which beat Kishwaukee 10-0 in their tourney opener in South Holland. If the Trojans win again, they will play in the regional championship game Friday at Noon.
The visiting fourth-seeded Panthers played more like a second seed. They took three one-run leads in the game, the last at 6-5 in the top of the eighth on a close play at the plate. Olive-Harvey last defeated Triton 5-2 on April 19, 2019.
The Trojans also had given up runs on a balk and bases-loaded walk. They could not knock out reliever Ty Chaney, who held them down with just a two-run yield over five innings. Amid promising rallies, Trojan baserunners were doubled off third, picked off second and thrown out at home on a squeeze attempt.
But timely power covers a multitude of sins and wins games. Harris provided just that, his seventh homer complementing third baseman
Jake Kutella's homers in his first two at-bats.
"I'm never really thinking home-run with big boy Kutella behind me," said Harris. "My job was just to hit the ball hard. My head was pulling off off-speed pitches. But I hit an off-speed pitch (from freshman Christopher Pinale) for the homer."
Kutella had the confidence of head coach
Harry Torgerson. He got the sign only the best hitters receive in his second at-bat.
"I was 3-and-0, and Torg gave me the green light," he said.
Hitting was not contagious for the rest of the Trojans after Kutella's homers off Panthers starter Jackson Lisle. They had difficulty denting reliever Chaney, who came on to start the fourth.
Anthony Martinez collected an RBI single against Cheney later that inning.
Noah Jouras tied the game at 5-all with a seventh-inning sacrifice fly.
The Trojans huddled with Torgerson after the emotional game. Minutes later, Kutella and Harris vowed their teammates, majority freshman will shake any playoff-opening jitters displayed against the Panthers.
"A lot of guys were jumpy and nervous for the first game, Kutella said. "We were swinging at bad pitches. One-hundred percent we'll get over it. I think we'll come out good tomorrow."
Added Harris: "You've got to come in with a better mindset. Everyone came out and thought it was going to be easy. Now everyone knows what to expect, to give it your all. It opened the eyes of a lot of freshmen."
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(Story by tritonathletics.com contributor George Castle)
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