Vol. 2, No. 15
Baseball
iSouffujanli
EXTRA June 7, 1966
Maine Township High School South, Park Ridge, III.
Bam, Biff Pow-We re No. 2 In State By Derek Gilna In the state baseball eight team playoff in Peoria, the Maine South Hawks had little problem getting by Rock IslandAlleman and Alton, doing so 13 - 0 behind the 3 - hit pitching of John Spiggos. Alton was stubborn, but lacked finesse and pitching and fell to the Park Ridgians 8 to 6. Fatigue finally caught up to the squad, when only one hour after the Alton game they took the field the second time to face the powerful Spartans of Glenbrook North. Glenbrook jumped on a fatigued John Spiggos who had pitched his way to a shutout in the Rock Island game and worked one and two-thirds innings to save Chuck Richard's win in the Alton game. Glenbrook sent 13 men to the plate in the first inning, scoring the first eight runs of their 15 to 2 win. South for its own part ended up scoring 23 runs in the three game series on the way to the runner-up spot. Although Ken Kozil of Glenbrook limited the Hawks to only four hits in going the distance in the title game—two of the hits coming from the bat of first baseman Bob Holz— Maine hitting in the rest of the two series was prodigious. ^The squad amassed 21 hits in the first two games, despite the fact that the first game lasted only five innings. Auggie Matejzel piled up five of those hits in the first two games, but his lack of success with the bat in the last game symbolized that in baseball, as well as any other sport, you perform better when the breaks are with you. This unusual meeting was the first time since 1946 that two teams from the same conference met in the final. Kelly lost to Fenger in a championship game, both teams coming from the Chicago Public League in the days when two teams were allowed from Chicago. It was unfortunate that the team Maine met was the only team who had given them trouble all year. It did serve to showto the few remaining skeptics that there is considerable power in the CSL. In the final innings Coach Van Proyen inserted Perez at third, Steffen out to pitch, and Kaufman and Sauter to the catcher's spot.
his paperwork long enough to look down at the field, he would have observed the finest allaround player in the tournament playing shortstop f o r Maine South. Matejzel's infield play was sparkling as he made one great play after another. In the Alton game he made two brilliant plays in a row on hard smashes that could just as well have been hits, but Auggie kept Richards in control with good defensive work. At the plate Augie was on base more than anyone in the tournament. The little shortstop banged out 5 hits in ten official trips to the plate. When he didn't get a hit he walked, and his mere presence on the basepaths gave opposing pitchers and catchers additional woes.
After winning their first two tournament games by impressive margins, the Hawks found an old jinx in Glenbrook North and succumbed to the slugging Spartans 15 to 2 in the championship game. As co-champions of the same conference Maine and Glenbrook had met twice in the regular season and the Spartans had emerged victorious on both occasions. At the scene of the title game even coach Watt pointed out that the law of averages were definitely against his team. But Lady Luck was with the Spartans again and she must have had a bat in her hand as the Glenbrook strongboys rapped out 14 hits behind the 4-hit pitching of Ken Kozil. Hawk hitting had been exceptional throughout the first two games of the tournament, but many a Hawk fan drooped in dismay when Glenbrook put eight runs on the Scoreboard before the Hawks got to bat. Leve started the fire for Glenbrook with a leadoff single. Jacob was safe at first sacrificing Leve to second. Brietzman then delivered a hit to load the bases. With Piggott at bat Glenbrook executed a triple steal with Leve stealing home and Briezman and Jacob going to second and third on the play at the plate. Piggott proceeded to strike out but Larson followed with a two run single and was out trying to stretch it. With the bases wiped clean the pitcher Kozil started things all over again with a double to left center. Spiggos gave up his first walk to the next man, Zarit. Youngberg followed with a single to load the bases for the second time in the inning. The shortstop, Mynars, came through with a two-run single, scoring Kozil ;iiid Zarit* with runs 4 and 5. Leve, the leadoff man, delivered his second hit of the inning, a double over the head of the light fielder. Youngberg and Mynars came across the plate and the score was 7 to 0. Leve took third on a play at the plate which saw Mynars scoring from first on a double. Jacobs following single scored run number 8 from third and convinced Coach Van Proyen that it just wasn't Spiggos' day. Richards came in and gave
up a single to the first man he faced, but then got Piggot to fly out to center to retire the side. Even after a record-tying inning the Hawks were not to be denied altogether as they put across two in their half of the first to complete their tournament scoring. Matejzel led off with a walk after which Gibe struck out swinging. Strom followed with another walk and Holz blasted a long double high and deep to right center scoring Matejzel and Strom. They were the 22nd and 23rd runs of the tournament for the Hawks in an all - out effort to reach the top. Kozil coasted the rest of the way, pitching shutout ball, for the final six innings and received his ninth win of the year against only one loss. Glenbrook added two more runs in the fourth on a tremendous homerun by their captain, Don P i g g o t t . Jacobs reached second on an error by Kilinski to lead off the inning and scored one out later on a line drive shot out of the ballpark in left center by Piggott. They were the only runs scored off reliever Richards who had to leave after the fourth after pitching his allowed nine innings of baseball. After the Hawks failed in the fourth, Hood appeared as the new pitcher for South in the top of the fifth. Zarit and Youngberg received back - to - back walks to lead off the inning for Glenbrook. Hood then committed a balk moving runners to second and third. Mynars followed with a single, driving across Zarit. Leve popped out to the first baseman for the first out, and then Jacob drove Youngberg home with a sacrifice fly to center. The Spartans completed their barrage with two more runs in the sixth. Piggott lead off the inning with a single, advanced to second on a fielder's choice and scored on a 2 - base error. After Zarit struck out Youngberg singled to center where the center fielder was charged with an error allowing the runner to reach second. Youngberg was advanced to third and scored on a passed ball. Steffens finished up for the Hawks in the seventh by striking out the first two men he faced and getting another to pop out.
The all-tournament team for 1966, selected by the sports writers covering the state finals, contained the names of two outstanding Hawk infielders, Auggie Matejzel and Rick Kilinski. Kilinski's all-around play far outshadowed any other thirdsacker in the tournament. At the plate he showed power with a homerun and several other extra base hits. This, combined with his slick glovework at the hot corner, earned him a unanimous choice as allstar third baseman. Even though Augie Matejzel missed a unanimous selection by one vote, the writer who failed to vote for him surely couldn't have been watching the ball game. If he had stopped
SURPRISE
ANGER
INNOCENCE
HAPPINESS
HYSTERIA
They hit a triple!
The ump makes a bad call!
" I t wasn't me that yelled at vhe Ump."
We hit a home run.
We become one of two best baseball teams in the state!
The sadness of losing is reflected most poignantly in the eyes of pitcher John Spiggos. Maine nevertheless could never have reached the finals without him.
Kilinski, Matejzel Named To All-Tournament Team