Mining sectional gold: Schisler tosses complete game, cracks two-run single to push Raiders another step closer to state tourney

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The moment brought about a surge of adrenaline Jake Schisler needed to harness.

“I was definitely a little amped up,” he said.

One out away from sending the Quincy Notre Dame baseball team to the Class 2A super-sectionals for the first time since 2017, the right-handed Schisler allowed Gillespie’s Tristen Wargo to slap a single to right field to put runners at the corners.

A casual walk to the mound by Raiders coach Rich Polak slowed everything and everyone down, most importantly Schisler.

“That calmed me down,” he said.

He then finished what he came to Lincoln Land Community College’s Claude Kracik Field to do. Schisler struck out the Miners’ Bryan Jubelt to punctuate the Raiders’ 5-0 victory in the Class 2A Pleasant Plains Sectional championship.

“Three straight pitches that I executed,” Schisler said. “That felt great.”

It keeps an incredible run going. The Raiders (34-1) have won a school-record 31 consecutive games heading into the Class 2A Springfield Super-Sectional at 5 p.m. Monday against Bloomington Central Catholic once again at Claude Kracik Field.

The Saints (17-10) beat Eureka 3-2 for the Decatur Sectional championship and have outscored five postseason opponents by a combined score of 51-4.

The opponent won’t alter the Raiders’ approach.

“Don’t change anything,” senior center fielder Tucker Tollerton said. “Play our game.”

It’s how they prepared for Saturday’s epic matchup.

QND and Gillespie came into the sectional title game with a combined 65-1 record. The Miners had eliminated Maroa-Forsyth, last year’s fourth-place state finisher, with a 7-2, eight-inning victory in the sectional semifinals and had scored fewer than five runs in a game only three times all season.

“A big thing coming into the game was having a ton of energy,” QND senior shortstop Jack Linenfelser said. “Especially for an early morning game, that’s how you win the game. You have to have a ton of energy. We knew they were a really good team, and if we came in here and beat their energy, we had a good chance of winning.”

So the Raiders arrived more than two hours before the 11 a.m. first pitch, allowing them time in the batting cage and walking on the field.

“It was almost like feeling out the field, feeling comfortable with where you’re playing,” Tollerton said. “We felt comfortable.”

It didn’t take long for that to show.

In the top of the second inning, QND catcher Michael Stupavsky drew a one-out walk. Left fielder Evan Kenning drew a two-out walk, and right fielder Colin Kurk was hit in the helmet by a pitch from Miners right-hander Kamryn Link to load the bases.

After a brief mound visit from Gillespie coach Jeremy Smith, Schisler jumped on the first pitch from Link and drove the ball into left field, scoring two runs to give the Raiders the lead.

“Usually after a mound visit, you’re going to get a pitch to hit,” Schisler said. “I was looking for that. I told myself I wasn’t going to be late. I was looking for that fastball and jumped on it and got the job done.”

He had a bigger job to do in the bottom of the inning.

Gillespie’s first two hitters — Bryce Hohnsbehn and Bryce Buhs — singled on balls up the middle, and after a strikeout, the Miners’ Luke Schuckenbrock walked to load the bases. Schisler responded with a strikeout and a groundball to third baseman Brady Kindhart to end the inning without any damage.

The Miners didn’t get another runner on base until the sixth inning, but Schisler wriggled out of trouble each and every time.

“He was amazing,” Linenfelser said. “He’s always amazing. He’s painting spots, throwing curveballs, doing exactly what he does.”

The Raiders gave Schisler some breathing room by scoring twice in the sixth.

Stupavsky again got things going, leading off with a single. Two outs later, Kurk was hit by a pitch for a second time. Schisler reached safely on an infield error to load the bases, and Tollerton looped a single into shallow left field that plated two runs for a 4-0 advantage.

“I knew he had a pretty good curveball, and that was the first pitch I saw,” said Tollerton, who has played on traveling teams with Link. “It kind of looked like it was coming at my head, but it broke in. That’s what I was expecting the next pitch, and that’s what it was. I kind of shortened up. I was thinking going the other way the entire time. I didn’t get all of it, but it worked out.”

He didn’t have to get all of it to be effective.

“Got enough of it,” Tollerton said.

The rest was up to Schisler, who struck out eight, walked three and allowed five hits in his second complete game of the postseason. He’s allowed just three earned runs in his last 28 ⅔ innings and only seven earned runs overall this season.

A simple approach made him efficient Saturday.

“Attack early, don’t really fall behind in counts because they can definitely do some damage,” said Schisler, who threw 70 strikes among his 107 pitches. “I think I did a good job of limiting my pitch count for the most part. I thought I did a good job of attacking early.”

But the work isn’t done. The Raiders’ singular goal is to be playing for a state championship at the end of the next week.

“We just have to keep rolling,” Linenfelser said.