Edwardsville senior Aaron Young didn’t have an at bat and didn’t play a single inning in the field in the Class 4A state championship game at DuPage Medical Group Field in Joliet on Saturday.
He checked in as a pinch runner in extra innings, the top of the eighth. Young stole second base to put himself in a position to win the game. With two out the Tigers bunted to third. The throw to first resulted in a collision between the St. Charles North first baseman and the runner and the ball was bobbled.
That gave Young a chance. He roared around third and headed to the plate, narrowly beating the tag from North Stars catcher Marco Torres to give Edwardsville the lead.
The run held up in the bottom of the eighth and the Tigers beat St. Charles North 3-2 to win the Class 4A state title.
“I saw the ball bobble and I just ran as fast as I could,” Young said. “I felt like [the play at the plate] was close. My head was in the ground so I didn’t see it. I knew after that we had a chance.”
/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/16328063/ob_cst_060919_3002.jpg)
Edwardsville starting pitcher Matthew Boyer went six innings, allowing just two earned runs on four hits. He struck out nine. Collin Salter pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings to earn the win for the Tigers (37-5).
St. Charles North had the bases loaded and no outs in the bottom of the seventh. Senior Egon Hein knocked one run in, enough to tie the game and send it to extra innings, but that was all the North Stars (29-11) would get.
“We did what we could and we battled until the end,” Hein said.
Junior Kyler Brown had two hits for St. Charles North and Mike Gattuso had one. Starting pitcher John Hamer went 3 1⁄3 innings allowing two unearned runs.
The North Stars upset St. Rita in the semifinals on Friday.
“It’s pretty crazy,” Hein said. “No one expected us to even go this far and we did. I’m not sad because we lost. I’m sad because I’m not playing with the same guys next year. It’s heartbreaking. I love this team, I love this group of guys.”
