Waubonsee and South Suburban stage monumental slugfest
Wednesday, April 28, 2004
(South Holland, IL.) - It could have been described by several one-word adjectives. Incredible, unreal, phenomenal, strange and bizarre are but just a few that come to mind. The one thing it definitely was for sure was a 'monumental slugfest.' A game for the ages, that won't likely be repeated any time soon, if ever again for that matter.
Last week, on what could be forever deemed 'Windy Wednesday' in Chicagoland, the Waubonsee Community College Chiefs and the South Suburban College Bulldogs played a record setting baseball game. When the dust settled 'so to speak,' the teams had combined for 57 runs and 53 hits, 22 of which were extra base knocks including 9 home runs and 12 doubles. And they committed 11 errors in a nine-inning game that lasted four hours and twenty minutes. "It was like Arena Football," joked Waubonsee's head coach Dave Randall. He could afford to laugh because his Chiefs were victorious 32-25. "How do you score 25 runs and lose by 7?" lamented South Suburban head coach Steve Ruzich.
Blame it on the wind. A nearly steady 30 mile per hour wind, punctuated by frequent gusts anywhere from 40 to 50 miles per hour, blew throughout the game. Waubonsee, an NJCAA Division III non-scholarship school from the far western suburbs, arrived in the south suburb of South Holland, Illinois to find a warm southern wind blowing straight out to centerfield. And as they looked out at centerfield, they saw a strange sight. Approximately a 120-foot wide section of the Bulldogs' centerfield fence was laying on the ground. A strong gust about twenty minutes earlier had caught the attached windscreen and lifted the fence from the support poles. It took the entire South Suburban team and a few maintenance workers to put it back in place and secure it for the game to start, which it did an estimated fifteen minutes after its' scheduled beginning. Despite the wind, no one expected what was to come.
For the game, Waubonsee used three pitchers while the Bulldogs sent five different hurlers to the mound during the onslaught. However, these were not the bottom hurlers of the pitching staffs providing the fodder to light up the Bulldogs' newly installed scoreboard. Several of the top pitchers for each team saw their earned run averages soar like a kite would have in these conditions as baseballs constantly jumped off bats throughout the day. The wind seemingly took something off everyone's fastball and often knocked their off- speed pitches out of the strike zone. The result was more like a game-long batting practice session.
Literally looks like a blowout
South Suburban, the top ranked Division I team in the NJCAA's Region IV, took advantage of three Waubonsee errors in the first, a couple of walks and several bloop hits, not tape measure shots, to score six times. Waubonsee, which had left two runners on base in the first inning, then scored only one while leaving the bases loaded in the second. The Bulldogs added four more in the second to take a commanding 10-1 lead after just two innings. "At first it looked like it was going to be lopsided the opposite way," Randall said. "We were on pace to set a school record for most runs allowed." Suddenly things turned around, even though the wind did not.
The Chiefs finally got their first hit of the game in the third and scored five runs to get within four, if only briefly. South Suburban's Chris Cunningham launched a tape-measure shot up into the jet stream to straight away center to start the third. The ball easily cleared the 400- foot mark in center, sailing over a gradual incline up toward the Lady Bulldogs' softball diamond. It struck the far, outfield end of the first base dugout roof and ended up somewhere in the softball diamond's right field. The distance to the point where Cunningham's drive struck the dugout was estimated at about 500 feet.
A change of momentum
However, Waubonsee starting pitcher Chris Barrett began to slow down the Bulldogs' attack after that. The Chiefs exploded for eight runs in the fourth, suddenly jumping ahead 14-11 on Kory Lynch's three-run homer. Barrett held South Suburban scoreless in the fourth before Waubonsee also failed to score in the top of the fifth. The Bulldogs tied it with three in the fifth before the Chiefs vaulted back ahead with three more in the sixth.
Barrett, up to 125 pitches, was relieved by Mike Kniffin with two on and none out in the sixth with the Chiefs up 17-14. "I've never taken my pitcher out and congratulated him after giving up 14 runs," chuckled Randall. "We knew there were going to be a lot of runs scored. But Chris really battled and stuck with it, he's a mentally tough kid." Kniffin then proceeded to accomplish something no one else was able to do all day. The freshman right-hander registered three consecutive outs, highlighted by an inning ending strike out of Cunningham, who is considered a professional prospect.
The Chiefs got two more in the seventh and South Suburban equaled that in the bottom half of the frame to stay close at 19-16. However, Waubonsee scored six times in the top of the eighth to take a 25 to 16 lead, outscoring South Suburban at that point 24-6 since the beginning of the third. "I said to Coach Randall that the 25 runs were a new school record, and we looked at each other and both sarcastically joked that we were going to need every single one of them and probably more," stated Waubonsee assistant coach Steve Moga.
The Right Offensive Conditions
With the outfielders having to play near the fence, runners were able to easily take an extra base on nearly every single through the infield. The fast infield, dry conditions and blowing dust all aided the offensive players. The wind even knocked the ball down on a few occasions. Waubonsee left fielder Joe Abens was camped under a medium fly ball in the sixth that appeared headed directly for him. Suddenly a down-draft like gust pushed the projectile quickly downward, dropping 30 feet in front of a frustrated Abens.
South Suburban tallied four more runs in the eighth to make it 25-20 going into the ninth. "I asked Dave if he was going to take an intentional safety to end the game," quipped Ruzich. Randall, who has coached more than 1,100 games in his 27 seasons at Waubonsee, knew he'd never been in a game like this before. "I remember going to the mound one time and saying to my guys that 20 runs should win this game," said Randall. "Then the thought process changed and I said we've got to keep scoring."
Finally in the ninth
Ryan Malkowski led off the ninth with a deep home run to left field while Ruzich was on his cell phone with one of his assistant coaches who was elsewhere scouting. "We're down 25-20 starting the ninth. Oh, there goes another one, make that 26!" The Chiefs were long from done however as they scored five more, highlighted by a grand slam by Ruben Gandarilla to make it 31-20. As if things hadn't already been tough enough for fielders all day, Malkowski then hit a routine grounder to short with two outs and a runner on second. Just as the ball was about to be fielded, it suddenly took a big bounce more than a dozen feet in the air and well over the head of the Bulldogs shortstop as the Chiefs' 32nd run crossed the plate.
Down 12 runs with three outs to go, Ruzich "thought we had the advantage because we were batting last." Waubonsee had brought in Lynch, their closer, in the eighth to hold off the Bulldogs. Lynch had surrendered only 1 earned run (5 total runs) in 21 innings while notching four wins and three saves on the season. "You'd think I'd be comfortable. But I wasn't, it was that kind of game," stated Randall.
It turned out that Randall's fears had some validity to them. South Suburban touched Lynch for five runs, nearly hitting four consecutive home runs in the process. With one out, the Bulldogs got a double off the fence and then back-to-back home runs.
Catch it, no let it go
Then a play occurred that demonstrated the affect the wind was having most of the day. A foul pop was hit behind home plate, high above the back stop and presumably headed out of play. Gandarilla, Waubonsee's catcher, gave chase only halfway back toward the screen and waited. Lynch sprinted in from the mound to back Gandarilla up as the ball reversed directions and came some 40 to 50 feet back toward the field. As it sailed back and over the head of a back peddling Gandarilla, the Chiefs' bench yelled for Lynch to catch it just before it dropped in front of the surprised pitcher three feet into foul territory. Waubonsee's bench then quickly tried in vain to instruct Lynch to let the ball go. However, Lynch instinctively grabbed the ball as it bounded toward him, stopping it from rolling into fair territory. The startled South Suburban hitter, still standing in the batter's box, suddenly realized his mistake and good fortune.
Moments later the Bulldogs hitter drilled a double off the fence in left. That was followed by a routine fly ball that was anything but, as it was caught by left fielder Jake Kleckner with his back to the fence for the second out. The almost three-run homer would have made it 32-28 with only one out, had it carried out of the park. A couple pitches later an exasperated Lynch surrendered a single to put runners at first and third. Lynch then got South Suburban's Ken Firlit, who led off the inning with a ground out to third, to fly out to center to end the marathon game as the sun was beginning to set.
Record setting day
Over the final seven innings alone, Waubonsee scored 31 runs and registered 29 hits. Six Waubonsee records were broken and another tied in the process. The Chiefs' 32 runs obliterated the school record of 22 runs scored versus McHenry County College in 1982. The 29 hits also shattered the previous record of 22 set against Kankakee Community College in 1990. South Suburban's 24 hits were the most ever allowed by Waubonsee, breaking the mark of 21 achieved by the College of DuPage in the 1971 and duplicated by Oakton Community College in 1972.
Waubonsee's Kevin Hoffman finished the game 7 for 8 with two doubles, 5 runs scored, 2 stolen bases and 3 runs batted in. The only time the freshman outfielder didn't get a hit was in his first at bat of the day, when he nearly did get one. Hoffman drilled a liner off the pitcher's leg that ricocheted to the shortstop who then threw him out at first on a bang-bang play. His seven consecutive hits tied a school record, while his total for the game set a new Waubonsee single game record for hits. Hoffman reached on an error in his first plate appearance the following day en route to going hitless, and breaking his streak.
The Chiefs' Gandarilla went 4 for 7 with a double and a grand slam home run. He knocked in eight runs during the game to set a new school record in that category. The sophomore catcher nearly had six additional runs batted in as well. Gandarilla was robbed of a potential two run single in the first when the Bulldog's shortstop leaped high to snare his two out line drive. He also flew out to deep center with the bases loaded in the eighth, the inning before he actually did connect for a grand slam.
Waubonsee lead off man Mike Wolf ended the game 4 for 7 with a school record six runs scored. The sophomore second baseman also knocked in three runs, drew a walk and stole two bases. When Kleckner made the last out in the ninth, Wolf was the on-deck hitter, awaiting his ninth plate appearance of the day. Kleckner, who entered as a pinch-runner in the seventh, ended the game 2 for 3 at the plate.
South Suburban's Tony Ogean hit for the cycle going 5 for 6 with a double, a triple, two home runs, five runs scored and seven batted in. James Cresto was 4 for 6 with two doubles and five runs scored. Cunningham finished the game with just the tape measure homer in going 1 for 4, but he also walked twice, was hit by a pitch and scored five times.
A memorable day, indeed. At one point during the game, the port-o-potty behind the Bulldogs' dugout even blew over. Fortunately, not while 'in use.' About midway through the game, I told our guys "this isn't about the stats. It's about making plays, it's not about being pretty," said Randall. "Things are going to happen today that you guys are going to be talking about for a long time."
The Chiefs, who improved to 21-22-2 overall with the outburst, scored a more rational eight runs in each game to sweep a doubleheader the next day. The Bulldogs, left to ponder coming up short despite scoring 25 runs, fell to 24-21 overall on the season.