Baseball: Lincoln-Way Central squeezes past Lockport
By Dick Goss dgoss@stmedianetwork.com May 11, 2012 11:44PM
Updated: June 14, 2012 8:16AM
Lincoln-Way Central left fielder Matt Filkins saw the sign from coach Sean Bieterman for the first time this season but said he wasn’t surprised.
“I hadn’t been seeing the ball well the past couple of games, and we had to try to get a run there,” Filkins said after his fifth-inning suicide squeeze scored Kevin Mampe with the eventual winning runs as the Knights threw a serious wrench into Lockport’s SouthWest Suburban Blue title hopes with a 2-1 victory Friday night at Ed Flink Field.
With one out, Filkins laid down the 1-and-1 curveball from Lockport right-hander Eric Duzan to break a 1-1 tie. Bieterman went to the well again in the sixth inning and it resulted in a popped bunt and double play. However, right-hander Dan Doherty, who relieved Central starter Brad Bass with two outs in the fourth, made sure the insurance run was not needed.
“I like relieving in big situations,” said Doherty, who allowed no runs on one hit and struck out four over the final 31/3 innings. “I threw mostly fastballs. That’s my No. 1 pitch.”
“Matt Filkins did a tremendous job executing and so did David Rico getting his bunt down earlier that inning,” Bieterman said. “I can’t say enough about the job Danny (Doherty) did, too. It was a well-played game, and we beat a very good team.”
The win by Central (15-12, 5-6) and Lincoln-Way East’s 9-5 victory over Sandburg means Joliet West leads the SWS Blue by a game over Lockport (19-11, 8-4) and Sandburg.
“Their pitchers did a great job but the disappointing thing is we knew we could take care of our own business and we didn’t,” Lockport coach Andy Satunas said. “We win three in a row and we at least share the title. Now we need help. We worked hard to get to this point but unfortunately our bats went cold.”
