For a short period of time, Providence’s Cooper Eggert said he felt sorry for himself.
The senior pitcher was told by three doctors — including an orthopedic surgeon for the Cincinnati Reds – that he needed Tommy John surgery after injuring his elbow April 24 against Marist.
“When I found out from the third doctor that I’m going to need surgery, I went through a point in my head where I was struggling with it,” Eggert said. “I felt bad through it.”
Eggert snapped out of his sullen mood when Scott Mensik, his former coach with the Mokena Blaze, gave him some inspirational words to live by.
“He said, ‘You can’t look in the past and you can’t do anything about it — just go out there, win another ring.’” Eggert said.
That won’t happen with Eggert on the mound. But after a stint as the team’s designated hitter, he’s now manning first base and helping the Celtics defensively and at the plate.
His performance Saturday featured a bases-loaded triple in the second inning that sparked Providence to a 12-0 rout of Lincoln-Way East in the Class 4A Lincoln-Way West Sectional championship game in New Lenox.
Eggert drove in four runs for Providence (27-12), which will play at 7:30 p.m. Monday against Catholic League rival Brother Rice (36-3) in the Crestwood Supersectional at Ozinga Field.
“That hit by Cooper — that was huge,” Providence coach Mark Smith said of Eggert, who has committed to SIU Edwardsville. “It gave us a little bit of a cushion.”
Cincinnati commit Enzo Infelise, Declan Kane, Dominik Alberico and Blake Jenner each had two hits. Minnesota recruit Nate O’Donnell and Alberico combined for the shutout, striking out eight.
Jake Newman led Lincoln-Way East (28-11) with two hits. Senior left-hander Jack Bauer, an MLB prospect who recently decommitted from Virginia, gave up six runs in an inning-plus of action.
Bauer, who made national headlines for throwing 102 mph earlier in the spring, has been on a strict pitch count this season. He threw 35 pitches in the first inning and finished with 53.
“We spent an hour taking hacks off the machine at 100 mph,” Eggert said of Friday night’s practice session. “It was hard. But the plan was to make him throw strikes. We heard about his pitch count, and if we got it up in the first inning, he would be taken out soon.”
“Bauer is special — really special,” Smith said. “But our kids had great, competitive at-bats.”
It allowed Providence to earn the 13th sectional title in program history.
Eggert, meanwhile, has surgery scheduled with Timothy Kremchek, a longtime doctor for the Reds, after the playoffs on June 17. He’s also prepared for a redshirt season in college.
Still, Eggert said he’s been enjoying his time at first base. And Smith likes having him in the lineup.
“He’s had kind of a rough senior year,” Smith said of Eggert. “He started out with a hamstring injury and missed the first couple of games. But this injury really hit this team hard.
“This is a very close-knit team. There are 20 seniors on this team out of 24. When one goes down, they all felt it, and it took us a while to get over that. When he came back, it just juiced us up a bit.”
Count O’Donnell as one of the Celtics who is happy to have Eggert around. And then some.
“He’s had a lot of ups and downs, and an injury like that gets in your head and can hurt your mindset,” O’Donnell said of Eggert. “For him to come back and play first base for us is huge.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
