The Effingham Flaming Hearts are making just their 2nd trip to state in baseball and first since 1942 when they head to Duly Health & Care field in Joliet to open up the 3a state semifinals on Friday against Grayslake Central.
The Hearts are 22-15 on the season with losses to Centralia, South Central and North Clay, but turned it on in the post season winning the Olney Regional over Marion and then beating Triad & Mount Vernon to win the Centralia Sectional before their Super Sectional win at Decatur over Champaign Central. Coach Curran McNeely is in his 3rd year. Offensively the Hearts are led by Jack Harper hitting .417 with 23 RBI. Quest Hull has driven in a team high 27. On the mound the most innings has been pitched by Josh McDevitt who is 10-2 with a 0.68 ERA. He has 68 ks in just 58 innings.
Grayslake Central is 32-7 out of the Northern Lake County Conference. Colin Kornit has pitched 37 innings with a 2.08 ERA and 57 strike outs with a 6-1 record on the mound to lead them. First pitch is at 10a.m.
The 2nd game will feature Nazareth Academy (32-6) taking on Sycamore (33-5). Nazareth was last year’s state champs as they as the Roadrunners are out of the East Suburban Catholic Conference. They take on the Sycamore Spartans out of the Interstate Eight. Making their first state tournament appearance.
The first 4a semifinal at 3pm will feature the 31-9 Edwardsville Tigers taking on the 25-13 York Dukes. Edwardsville won their own regional before beating O’Fallon and Minooka at Illinois Wesleyan and then knocking off Oswego East at Bloomington to punch their ticket. The Tigers are the reigning, defending 4a state champs under head coach Tim Funkhouser who has been with Edwardsville for 24 years and has 2 state titles and 2 runner ups to his credit. They take on York who is making just their 3rd state appearance and first since 1993. They have won state titles in each of their previous 2 visits.
The 2nd game at 5pm will see 29-7 New Trier taking on 25-15 Brother Rice. New Trier is out of the Central Suburban League and coach Mike Napoleon is making his 7th appearance at state leading the Trevians to the championship game in 1999, 2000, 2007 and 2009 with 2 state titles. The Crusaders of Brother Rice are out of the Chicago Catholic Conference. They are making their 6th state appearance with a state title back in 1976 and runner up in 81.
