Warriors win on Ward's dramatic HR

ELGIN -- If there were a camera crew on hand for Wednesday's matchup between Westminster Christian and Driscoll, the game would instantly be aired on ESPN Classic.

The Warriors battled and battled before finally pulling off a 10-8 comeback win over the perennially strong Highlanders, their second in a row over a Suburban Catholic Conference team and 13th in a row overall.

With no outs, the game tied at 8 and a runner on first in the bottom of the seventh, senior Carter Ward capped off the dramatic win by sending a 2-1 pitch over the left-field fence for a walk-off two-run home run. Before Ward even stepped to the plate, he had a good feeling he would be the last batter of the game.

 

Carter Ward

However, none of Ward's heroics would have been possible if not for Westminster's five-run sixth inning off of Driscoll starter David Schwabe. The Warriors (15-3) were down 7-3 but sent all nine batters to the plate against the Highlanders (12-4) to take an 8-7 lead.

Ward got things going with a one-out double. Cory Hodge then reached on an infield single, allowing Ward to score from second and cut the lead to 7-4. Two batters later, Ben Palmer collected the team's second infield single of the inning to give the Warriors runners at first and second with two outs. Ryan Donahue kept the inning alive with a run-scoring double, cutting the lead to 7-5.

Chadd Schroy then drew a walk to load the bases for No. 9 hitter Ted Grossman. The senior came through in the two-out situation by hitting a high fly ball to right field, which the right fielder lost in the sun, allowing all three runners to score. The double was Grossman's first hit of the game and it gave the Warriors an 8-7 lead.

"He was throwing a lot of fastballs all game and he threw one right down the middle and I tried to take it to right, but it ended up dropping, so I was relieved about that," Grossman said.

Driscoll scored an unearned run off of Warriors ace Palmer to tie the game at 8 and set up Ward's seventh-inning heroics. Palmer (4-1) didn't have his best stuff, but provided a gutsy effort. The senior pitched seven innings and threw a season-high 154 pitches, striking out 11.

"I'm extremely proud of my teammates," Palmer said. "It felt good to get the win even though my A game was definitely not on. Driscoll is a great team. The last few days I've been mentally preparing for them. I didn't have it today, but our team did."

Lost in the dramatics of the win was Siewert's three-run home run in the bottom of the fourth, which got the offense going and temporarily gave the Warriors the lead at 3-2.

"We wanna play the best teams we can possibly play," Warriors coach Jeff Moeller said. "I think these kids want to prove even if were still a single-A team, we're legit and a team that should be considered one of the top teams in the state."