Prairie Ridge Last Team Standing, but Still Fall to Trojans

Watching the baseball teams from Crystal Lake, one would figure would likely be the team to advance through the state playoffs. After all, they had the tough catcher in Dom Winiecki and shortstop Chris Hauser. Add pitchers like no-hit Nick Martin and Robbie Lemke, the Gators looked ready for the postseason.

And the last team standing? It was 21-game loser . The Wolves started slowly but the final league standings show the Wolves won 11 league games.

Of course the regular season did Prairie Ridge no favors with the sectional voters so the Wolves had to battle that hard-hitting club from McHenry in the regional opener. Simply, the Wolves were seeded at the bottom of the four teams in the McHenry Regional. And the Warriors were seeded at the top and playing at home.

But was there a hint of trouble back on May 19? That's when Prairie Ridge delayed McHenry's celebration of a conference title. PR beat the Warriors that day, 5-3.

On Friday, those two teams met again in the regional opener. As they say in baseball, Prairie Ridge put up a crooked number in the second inning. As in eight runs. Jordan Getzelman's grand slam highlighted the big frame. The Wolves sent McHenry home in the first game of the playoffs, 10-8.

Would the Wolves get hot in the playoffs and run the table? On Saturday, the Wolves trotted out 6-foot-3 senior Lucas Keller against Cary-Grove in the regional title game. He pitched scoreless ball into the third inning. In the meantime, the Wolves were putting the ball in play. Kyle Hodorowicz, Matt Krenz and Getzelman all laced singles. But a pair of pick off plays ended those threats.

Cary put up six runs in the third inning and ended Prairie Ridge's season with a 9-0 win.

The Wolves do have some seniors to say so long to. Center fielder Alex Martini graduates along with Alex Frey, Alex Senyshyn, Adam Enwiya, Zach Cole, David Novy, Bobby Myers and Devin Samo.

At South: The Gators (19-13) also fell to that squad from Cary-Grove. In Friday's 8-3 loss to Cary, Hauser and Winiecki both doubled.

Graduation will hit this team with the graduation of pitchers Lemke, Brandon Seiser and Ryan Price. Also moving on are Hauser, Chris Morrison and Jeremy DeJesus.

At : The Tigers (13-21) had a tough playoff game. Central headed to Hampshire for playoff action and fell in eight innings to Marmion. Pitcher Dylan Cysewski hurled admirably for six scoreless innings, but the Tigers fell 1-0.

Cysewski graduates along with catcher Jake Walkner, pitcher John Nemcek, Nate Pollock, Alex Marski, Ryan Mannix, James Guzak, Teddy Frake, and Alex Corcoran.