’Canes ride high into tourney

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That Marian Central is one of the final four teams playing in the IHSA Class 3A Baseball State Tournament is no shock.

The Hurricanes are
perennially strong and had six senior starters, led by their top two pitchers, returning. Still, the reality of heading to Joliet’s Silver Cross Field to play on the final weekend of the IHSA sports year was difficult to grasp.

“It’s unbelievable,” left fielder Casey DiPietro said. “It’s so much fun playing right now, and our team has so much confidence. It’s amazing to think about.”

Marian (27-9) faces DeKalb (26-10) at noon today in the second semifinal. Joliet Catholic (23-14) plays Chatham Glenwood (30-4) at 10 a.m. in the first semifinal.

This is Marian’s fourth trip to state under coach Gregg Wikierak, but this one’s different. The first three were in Class A in the old two-class system, when eight teams advanced to state. The IHSA expanded from two to four classes in the 2007-08 school year and only four teams in each class go to state. This is the first time Marian’s been in the semifinals.

The Hurricanes returned DiPietro, Eli McGuire, Scott Franzegrote, Karl Steiger, Dave Luczak, Dave Parr and Chris Wagner as their seniors. Luczak and Parr were tough as their Nos. 1-2 pitchers last season.

“At the beginning of the year, we definitely knew with this format, Dave and I could start every game and we had a chance if the defense behind us and the bats came around at the right time,” Parr said. “This is something we envisioned. We knew it was a possibility.”

Marian has shown a penchant for clutch plays and has won its past four games by a combined five runs.

Parr (.434, 28 RBIs), Steiger (.419, four homers, 40 RBIs), Franzegrote (.393, 14 RBIs) and McGuire (.380, 21 RBIs) lead the offense for Marian. De-Kalb’s Jake Lemay (.376, three homers, 31 RBIs), Brian Sisler (.513, 30 RBIs) and Jake Jouris (.271, six homers, 34 RBIs) lead their team in run production.

Wikierak can draw on his state experiences from 1998, 2004 and 2005, but his words to the players were rather simple this week.

“You can’t let all the hype get to you, we have to be the same team we’ve been all season long,” Wikierak said. “You keep the mistakes to a minimum. And you can’t try to hit the ball harder or throw it harder. Don’t try to do more than you’re physically capable of.”