The DePaul Prep Rams got ahead early and stayed away to take another sectional championship 7-3 over Timothy Christian and advance to face Byron in the super-sectional on Memorial Day.
With a huge crowd on hand at Montini, the DePaul Prep Rams (22-14) took on the Timothy Christian Trojans (17-15). The Rams were the visiting team. That’s okay; it just gave the chance to grab an early lead.
And so they did. In the top of the first, with one out, Vance Kurokowa walked. Oliver Vigerust singled. Kevin O’Connor walked. Griffin Horne singled. Vance scored. Beni Espinosa singled. Shane Leonard, the runner for Vigerust, scored. Kevin O’Connor scored. C. Klein singled. Michael Bloom, the runner for Griffin Home, scored. Carter Levine struck out. Addison Latko struck out. So that’s four runs in the first.
Dylan Kaminski had a four-run lead before he took the mound. That’s not a good idea for Timothy Christian to spot Dylan four runs.
In the bottom of the first, Dylan set down the first two hitters. But walked the third hitter on four pitches. He would struggle with control all day. The Trojans’ J. Armstrong absolutely crushed Dylan’s third pitch well over the fence in right-center. Lots of action in the first.
The Rams added one in the second then gave one back in the bottom of the fifth on a curious balk call with a man on third base.
“I was just trying it over the plate. They were kind of smacking me. My curve ball was not working against their two hitter. I slowed down a little bit. Once the bases were loaded I knew we had this on the line. I just wanted to lock it in and just get it down,” Dylan Kaminski told me about that fifth inning.
“I was a little tired but persevered and got through it.”
But it was Addison Latko’s tremendous homerun in the top of the seventh that put the game away. On a 3-2 count, Timothy Christian reliever J. Armstrong served one up and out over the plate. Latko absolutely crushed it out onto 16th Street. Two runs in. 7-3. With AJ Garcia in for Kaminski, that was pretty much it.
“I was locked in from the start. I was ready in that a bat, the adrenaline. Everybody yelling chirps at me. The crowd talking. Everything was good. I loved it. It fueled me to just get up there and hit that homerun,” Addison Latko said, hardly able to contain himself.
“It was a fast ball and I hit fast ball. I love fast balls. That’s my favorite pitch to hit. So I just took a drive. Let it in the zone and big dog is gonna eat. That’s what happened baby.”
A convincing win for the Rams. A sectional championship in hand, in curiously workmanlike fashion. Another day at the office.
And another day at the office on Monday in the Super-sectional against Byron High School. Interestingly, this will be the second super-sectional match up for a Rams team in the last couple months. In March, the DePaul Prep girls basketball lost a super-sectional game to Byron in Elgin.
This Rams baseball team will face a 25-6 Byron baseball team in Rockford on Monday, Memorial Day, at 1:00 p.m., at the Rockford Rivets Stadium.
