Benet sophomore first baseman Quinn Rooney put his head down and ran hard after hitting the towering fly ball to right field.
It wasn’t until he got to second base that he realized what he had done.
Kaneland junior right fielder Carter Grabowski drifted back and got ready to catch what everyone figured would be a sacrifice fly. Then he signaled that he couldn’t find the ball. That’s because it was gone for a tie-breaking three-run home run.
“I actually didn’t think it was a home run,” Rooney said. “I thought it was like a sac fly to the right fielder. But as I was rounding second, I saw the home plate umpire point like that, and I just got really excited.”
So did Rooney’s teammates, who mobbed him after he crossed home plate with what turned out to be the decisive run in Benet’s 5-4 victory in the Class 3A Kaneland Regional championship game.
Rooney’s first home run of the season, coming in the fifth inning, capped a five-run rally by the second-seeded Redwings (23-12), who advance to the Kaneland Sectional semifinals to play top-seeded Burlington Central at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
Third-seeded Kaneland (25-11) led 2-0 when junior second baseman Nathan Cerocke and senior third baseman Merrick Sullivan led off the inning with singles for Benet. Senior right fielder Luke Wildes walked to load the bases for senior center fielder Josh Gugora, who hit a slow tapper to third. An errant throw home allowed two runs to score.
Rooney followed with his decisive swing.
“Off the bat, I was excited because, all right, at least that’s one, you know, if it was a sac fly,” Benet co-coach Jorge Acosta said. “He caught enough to backspin it, and it just kept going and got out of here. It was awesome, a good moment for him.”
Rooney has had many good moments this season. The Redwings originally planned to use him as a pitcher, but he impressed so much at first base during the preseason that he earned the starting spot there.
“He’s been one of our biggest clutch hitters all year long,” Acosta said. “I think this is his fourth or fifth game-winning hit.
“He had a couple walk-off hits back-to-back days against Naperville North and Carmel. He’s very calm in big spots and keeps things simple. He just finds a barrel, and good things happen.”
Not much good was happening in this game for the Redwings, who had mustered only two singles off Kaneland junior pitcher Hayden Foster through the first four innings. But Foster’s day was done after Rooney’s homer.
“I just had to stay relaxed just like any other at-bat,” Rooney said. “You can’t tense up in those tough moments but just got to show up for your team.”
The Redwings know they can rely on Rooney to do so.
“He’s been huge all year coming through in big spots,” Benet senior pitcher Gino Zagorac said. “As a sophomore especially, it’s tough.
“There’s a lot of pressure on you, but he’s thrived through all the pressure, and he’s came up in big spots for us a lot throughout the year. You’ve got to give a lot of credit to him for staying composed.”
Zagorac (3-2), a Wichita State recruit, stayed composed despite some struggles with command. He walked four and hit a batter but allowed only two hits and struck out six, leaving after issuing a leadoff walk in the sixth.
“It was tough in the beginning trying to find my all my pitches, and then as the game went on, I was able to throw three pitches in the zone for strikes,” Zagorac said. “That helped me keep them off balance and battle through even though I didn’t have my best stuff.”
Benet junior Lucas Kohlmeyer pitched two innings to get the save. Rooney helped him by making a diving catch for the first out of the seventh inning and then grabbed a grounder and tossed the ball to Kohlmeyer for the second out.
Northwestern-bound senior Jake Rifenburg is scheduled to pitch for Benet on Wednesday. Zagorac said “the entire school” has confidence in Rifenburg, while Rooney said the Redwings have confidence in themselves.
“We’ve been battling all year, but we just got to keep going,” Rooney said. “We’re just going to keep winning games, eventually getting to state. That’s the goal.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
