By GENE F. CONARD
Revenge is sweet — especially when it comes in late May with survival on the line.
Northwestern junior Luke Miller and his Northwestern Tiger baseball pals turned fate into a fantasy and what looked like certain Class 3A Sectional 20 disaster into a stunning, 9-7 victory over Twin Lakes in storybook fashion Thursday afternoon.
The Tigers outhit the Indians 13-8 and had a 22-16 edge in baserunners. But they also left more runners stranded (12-9) and had four costly errors that tainted a respectable, three-man mound effort and put their sectional lives in dire straits — the perfect stage for last-minute heroics.
The Tigers, who had a 12-0 season start foiled by a 4-1 loss to this same Indian crew earlier in the year, saw their 5-2, fifth-inning command disappear with a five-run, Twin Lake splurge in the sixth frame. And that 7-5 Indian lead looked ever so mammoth — that is until Matt Adams walked and Derek Mumaw singled opening the seventh and Mitch Daily drew a free pass.
TL southpaw Matt Bassett had thrown 177 pitches over the span of six frames. His 178th pitch was his waterloo — a belt-high fastball to Miller, and the sweet-swinging southpaw promptly zapped it over the fence in rightfield for a game-deciding grand-slam, his very first homer of the season.
“The guys ahead of me made it possible,” said Miller who hit two long shots as a Tiger sophomore last season and has 10 doubles this season.
“Coach [Ryan] Berryman told us to take a strike, and I did. I was looking fastball, and that’s what I got,” he added, referring to perfect, letter-high pitch that left Indian outfielders Tyler Barnes and Drew Guingrich staring hopelessly.
Sophomore righthander Bryan Beachy gave NW a strong, four-inning start in which he permitted two runs on four hits while fanning three, walking one and stranding six runners. Sophomore Cody Christensen worked a scoreless fifth and got an easy, one-pitch out starting the sixth.
But Drew Guingrich, Tyler Barnes and Garrett Howe took a particular liking to his breaking pitch in the sixth with hits; Brian Moore was hit by a pitch and Sam Stevens was safe on an error. It was 5-5 when Bassett slashed a first-pitch, two-run double to right for a stunning, 7-5 Twin Lakes lead.
Senior Zach Martin came on and had a 2-2 count on Luis Angeles when Bassett tried to steal third. Catcher Danny Turner’s throw wiped him out to foil another Twin Lakes scoring opportunity.
Then came the biggest Tiger explosion of what is now a 17-7 season.
Adams, Mumaw and Daily set the stage; Miller gazed at a ball, took a strike and then fouled Bassett’s 177th offering. The Indian southpaw left it in the sweet zone, and Sweet Luke unloaded with the stroke that counted. Martin singled to keep it going but TL reliever Zakk Sparks retired the next two.
All that remained was for Martin to secure the win with a scoreless seventh.
“We didn’t play our best and made a few mistakes, but we got the win,” Berryman explained. “Beachy did a nice job and put us in position to win; Christensen was okay until he left a few changeups over the plate and Martin closed it out for us.
“We knew Bassett had walked 50 in 65 innings, so we told our guys to be patient and not chase bad pitches. They were, and that was the key to the game. But we can play better,” he finished.
Daily stabbed a liner in the first to chill an Indian hope, and Mumaw and Adams made two running grabs to the fence to prevent trouble.
Miller had a single, double, homer and four RBI; Jimmy Corcoran had two singles and a double and Turner had a double and single and three RBI. Barnes had a single and double for TL.
The Tigers now advance to Monday’s 4 p.m. semifinal bout in which they’ll face the winner of today’s Western-Frankfort contest.
