Baseball: Providence Marches Into Class 4A State Title Game

Touching All the Bases: Like he's done so often this season, Sam Travis provided an early spark for Providence Catholic on Friday. After Kevin DeFilippis grounded out and Joe Houlihan struck out, RBI machine Travis clobbered a solo home run to put the Celtics ahead 1-0 in the first inning of the Class 4A state semifinal game against Prospect.

 In the third inning, Matt Trowbridge led off with a walk and Brady Wilkin and DeFilippis followed with back-to-back bunt singles to load the bases. Pinch runner Branden Boggetto scored on a wild pitch, Houlihan hit a sacrifice fly and catcher Dan Potempa hit a run-scoring single after Travis was intentionally walked to make it a 4-0 game. Prospect caught a break when Zak Kutsulis popped out, but Dominic Olszta drove in two more runs with a single to right field.

On the mound, Trowbridge surrendered only one walk, four hits and a run in pitching the complete game, as Providence advanced to Saturday’s state championship game with a 9-1 win over Prospect at Silver Cross Field in Joliet.

Patch’s MVP: Matt Trowbridge didn't need much offensive support as he yielded only a single run. Most significantly for the senior left-hander was his ability to get ahead of hitters. He walked just one batter and improved to 9-0.

Providence’s Leaders: Dan Potempa and Brady Wilkin both had two hits and Wilkin tripled and scored twice batting in the No. 9 spot. Zak Kutsulis and Matt Trowbridge both doubled, Sam Travis homered and scored twice, and shortstop Joe Houlihan handled four ground balls flawlessly and drove in two runs with a pair of sacrifice flies.

Prospect’s Leaders: Peter Bonahoom had half of the Knights’ hits, including a double. He also scored their lone run. Shane Joyce and Luke Bergman had singles and Jack Landwehr had an RBI groundout.

Quotable I: Providence coach Mark Smith on the victory: "We played extremely well today. Matt (Trowbridge) was phenomenal on the mound and pounded the strike zone and got ahead of the count early. I'm very proud of the boys. I thought we swung the bats well today, played great defense and played great defense."

Quotable II: Prospect coach Ross Giusti on falling behind 6-0: "That third inning was difficult, especially knowing how they can hit, and not being able to execute our bunt defense was tough. That's hard to rebound from, especially with a kid throwing like their kid was today."

Team Records: Providence improved to 37-3. Prospect fell to 26-9.

What’s Next: Providence will play Lyons Township (36-4) at approximately 5 p.m. Saturday for the Class 4A title at Silver Cross Field in Joliet. Prospect will play at 3 p.m in the third-place game.