Perhaps depth and experience are overrated.
With just 10 players on its roster, including seven sophomores, Wilmington relied on fundamentals, heart and scrappy play–plus a huge first inning–to capture its first Class A baseball championship in a 7-5 victory Saturday night over Harrisburg at Lanphier Park.
“I see other teams with 18, 19, 20 guys,” said fifth-year Wildcats coach Kevin Feeney. “We’ve got 10 good players, and you only need nine.”
The Wildcats (28-5) jumped on Harrisburg starter Evan Denbow for five runs in the top of the first. Denbow’s first two pitches were blasted for a ringing double to right field by Tanner Roark and a line shot by Nick Hansen that Harrisburg shortstop Rhett Hughes booted, allowing Roark to score.
Kyle Davis followed three batters later with an RBI double. Eric Dillon hit a sacrifice fly and Dillon Roark dropped an opposite-field RBI triple off the foul line in right field.
Robbie Murphy capped the onslaught with an RBI single.
It was an aggressive offensive approach for the entire game: Ten Wildcats batters put the ball in play on the first pitch they saw, including six in the first two innings.
“From what we scouted on Harrisburg, we knew they come after you,” Feeney said. “Our kids were fired up. Once our bats got going, it got contagious.”
Harrisburg (40-2) did not go away. After three hitless innings, the Bulldogs scored four times in the fourth, keyed by T.A. Sullivan’s three-run double to left-center.
Wilmington’s opportunistic side came through in the sixth when it added an insurance run. Davis singled down the left-field line and advanced to second base on an error by left fielder Matt Hughes.
Davis moved to third on Dillon’s groundout to second and scored on a passed ball.
After Harrisburg pulled to within 6-5 on Jason Hardison’s two-out pinch-double in the bottom of the sixth, Tony Vercelli’s RBI single in the top of the seventh provided another insurance tally.
Tanner Roark, who was the tournament’s MVP, pitched five innings for the victory, striking out three while giving up four runs on four hits and a walk.
Shane Longest pitched the final two innings for the save, getting Kyle Schultz to pop out to first baseman Davis for the final out.
“We were all running on adrenaline,” Tanner Roark said. “We were all hyped for the biggest game of our lives.”
Longest escaped a minor jam in the last of the seventh after Tim Mitacek doubled with one out and the next batter, Walter Franks, was hit by a pitch.
According to Longest, Wilmington pitching coach Lodi Vercelli told him, “You’ve got the confidence, finish it.”
The Wildcats used a combination of aggressive baserunning and timely hitting en route to the title game as it stole 10 bases for the weekend.
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Wilmington reached the title game with an 8-0 semifinal victory over Fairbury Prairie Central earlier in the day. Wilmington scored its first three runs on Prairie Central errors, then capped off the victory with a five-run seventh.
Harrisburg had impeccable credentials itself entering the title game. The Bulldogs defeated perennial Class AA power and top-ranked New Trier 8-7 on March 26.
Feeney never had any doubts, despite the age and size of his roster.
“People from the outside looking in didn’t expect us to be here,” Feeney said. “These guys expected to win every game.
“We never felt like we were underdogs in any game.”