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Baseball: McCarren leads North Shore Country Day to regional crown
Updated: May 28, 2012 6:55PM
Chris McCarren enjoyed one of the biggest moments of his prep baseball career on Saturday.
The North Shore Country Day sophomore scored the tying and winning runs in his team’s 5-4, eight-inning victory over Northridge in a Class 1A regional final in Winnetka. It marked North Shore’s second regional championship, as well as second in a row,.
“The game was about as exciting as you can get,” said North Shore coach Martin Freeman, whose club improved to 16-2. “It’s also cool to be repeating history.”
The Raiders play Illinois Lutheran, from Crete, in a sectional semifinal at Putnam County today (Thursday).
North Shore, which has never won a sectional title, was in danger of being bounced from the playoffs. Down 4-0 going into the bottom of the sixth, the Raiders struck for four runs to tie the score.
McCarren scored the tying run on pinch-hitter Gus Murray’s bunt. McCarren, who also hit a two-run single in the sixth inning, scored the eventual game-winner on Will Case’s hit in the eighth.
Matt Touhy earned the win with three innings of scoreless relief of staff ace Jake Kann.
“Matt’s been really clutch for us in big games,” Freeman said. “Jake didn’t have his best stuff, but he battled for us out there and kept us in the game.”
Freeman figures Kann will be ready to go for the sectional.
“We hope he’s fresh,” the coach said. “We will need our ace to be healthy.”
