By FRED KRONER
Mahomet-Seymour Baseball
Mahomet-Seymour’s baseball team took another step forward on Thursday (June 2) as it knocked off defending Class 3A state champion Springfield in a sectional semifinal game at Champaign’s Spalding Park.
The 6-1 win catapults the Bulldogs into the Sweet Sixteen for the third time in school history and for the first time since 2000.
M-S (27-5) returns to action at 11 a.m. on Saturday (June 4) with a super-sectional berth awaiting either M-S or its next opponent, Chatham Glenwood.
Blake Wolters, who improved to 10-0 had a two-run lead before he faced his first batter.
Wolters opened the game by drilling a double over the center fielder’s head. Next up was Alex McHale, who belted a run-scoring double. Before an out was registered, Carter Johnson knocked an RBI-single into right field.
The early offensive outburst was all that Wolters needed. He pitched a masterful five-hitter, walking one batter, striking out 11 and not allowing an earned run. Radar guns at the field were clocking his pitches above 90 mph.
“They (the Springfield Senators) were not intimidated, but they couldn’t hit him,” M-S coach Nic DiFilippo said. “When we scored two runs three batters in, they started feeling the pressure, but they battled back.”
In 60 innings pitched this season, Wolters has not allowed any extra-base hits.
Braden Houchin launched a solo home run in the fourth inning, increasing the M-S lead to 3-0.
Brayden Smith powered a two-run double off the 380-foot mark in center field in the sixth inning as the Bulldogs pulled ahead, 5-0.
After Springfield notched an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth inning, Mateo Casillas created the final score with a seventh-inning RBI.
“It’s not one or two guys carrying us,” DiFilippo said. “Every Bulldog from 1 through 9 ended up on base, and that’s the key.”
Casillas and Smith socked two hits apiece. Contributing one hit apiece were Wolters, McHale, Johnson, Houchin, Carter Selk and Chase Wagers. Jaedon Lager reached base via a walk.
Though M-S is two wins shy of its season-record for wins, DiFilippo said his players felt like they had something to prove in the postseason.
“We were 19-3 at the time of the (postseason) seedings and we were seeded fourth,” DiFilippo said. “We were 11-1 in our conference. Our guys were wondering, ‘What do we have to do?’”
In postseason games, the Bulldogs have handled Big 12 Conference champion Bloomington,10-0, and now Springfield’s defending state champs, 6-1, in back-to-back contests.
“We wanted the chance to see Springfield again (after losing to the Senators in 2021 in the sectional semis, 7-3) and at the same time put us on the map, too,” DiFilippo said. “Our program is finding ways to get better.”
After throwing 111 pitches on Thursday, Wolters will not be available to pitch again until after the super-sectional. Zach Courson (7-2) is the likely Saturday starter, but DiFilippo said, “We’ll have everybody ready in relief.”
Chatham Glenwood is expected to counter with Louisville commit Parker Detmers, whose brother (Reid Detmers), recently pitched a no-hitter for the Los Angeles Angels in his 11th Major League Baseball start.
In M-S’ two previous sectional title-game appearances (2000 and 1988), they were victorious each time.
With a win on Saturday, the Bulldogs would present M-S grad DiFilippo with his 300th win at the school in his 15th season as the head coach. He would be the second coach with 300 documented wins at M-S, joining current wrestling coach Rob Ledin.
