Herendeen helps Marian move on

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BELVIDERE – Marian Central’s Lincoln Herendeen used last season’s small postseason experience to his advantage Saturday in the Hurricanes’ 6-3 win against Belvidere in the IHSA Class 3A Belvidere Regional final.

Herendeen earned his fifth win of the season for the Hurricanes (19-10), holding the Bucs to three hits over 62⁄3 innings and striking out 10.

“I knew coming into this that it was a huge game, and I knew I had to come in strong,” Herendeen said. “I was hitting my spots well. My curveball was working great today.”

The junior pitcher said that being brought up as a sophomore to Marian’s state-qualifying team last season gave his confidence a boost. Herendeen was put in at shortstop with one out left in the Hurricanes’ sectional semifinal last year, and he fielded the grounder to make the last out.

The Hurricanes face Kaneland in the Rochelle Sectional semifinals at 4 p.m. Wednesday.

Marian’s offense backed up Herendeen’s pitching early, with all of the Hurricanes’ runs coming in the first three innings.

After Belvidere’s Troy Vandenbroek hit a two-run homer in the top of the third, Marian responded with three runs in its half of the inning.

The Hurricanes put runners on base and used timely hits to score the runs, recording nine hits. Herendeen had an RBI single to score Andrew Stone in the third, and Mitch Ennis drove in Herendeen.

Stone went 3 for 3, and Steve Zubrzycki went 2 for 4 with an RBI single that scored Riley Balduf in the bottom of the second.

“We put the ball in play when we needed to,” said Marian coach Gregg Wikierak, who earned his 400th win. “We didn’t hit the ball extremely hard today, but we hit it where they [weren’t].”

Belvidere put the winning run at the plate with the bases loaded in the top seventh with two outs, but Zubrzycki came on in relief to get a pop-up to earn the save.

Wikierak said this season’s team lacks the offensive power of last season’s team, which finished third in the state, but he said this team is better defensively and faster on the base paths, and if they put it all together, could have similar success as last season.

“[The regional title] is something we talk about throughout the year because now they’re forever in Marian baseball history,” Wikierak said. “They’ve left their legacy; now they have to improve on that.”