By Jack Lydon
The Lane Tech baseball team won the CPS city baseball championship 2-1 over Brooks Eagles Monday afternoon at Wrigley Field.
The win came on the strength of an impressive four-hit, one run pitching performance by Lane Tech junior right-handed pitcher Josh Katz (6-0), who’s final win was for the championship over the Eagles.
But the game was not without some drama in the top of the seventh inning.
Katz only had one earlier jam, in the top of the third, but he came through it unscathed.
Taking a 2-0 lead into the final inning, Katz took the mound approaching a 100 pitches.
The first two batters struck well hit singles up the middle.
“I thought it might be the end after those two hits,” Katz said after the game. “I was just kind of trusting my stuff, being relentless, trusting my defense knowing that I have the best guys in the entire city behind me. So just being able to throw strikes, pound the zone, trust what I have done throughout the season.”
Sun Times sports reporter Mike Clark asked Josh, “How many more pitches did you have left [at the end]?
“About five maybe, not many before we were going to have to go the bullpen,” Josh responded.
“It felt good to close that game out after going seven innings. To be able to win City, especially at Wrigley Field, it feels great.”
Katz was channeling his inner Kyle Hendricks—cool as a cucumber—coming off the Wrigley Field pitcher’s mound after setting Brooks down 1-2-3 in the first two innings.
“I was getting in my groove. I started feeling my stride and then I just continued to tell myself to throw strikes and trust my defense. That’s kind of all it is at a point, just throwing strikes and doing what I do.”
“I was mostly working the fast ball especially in the later innings. Just to be able to trust that. Today, I went with the two seam just to be able to jam their hitters.”
Lane Baseball Team coach Sean Freeman left Katz in after the first two hitters reached in the seventh with a slender two run lead.
“He had been throwing lights out all day, he’s been lights out for us in crunch time all year, so I had nothing but faith. We had a quite conversation when they had two guys on if we wanted to go [to the pen]. But I just told our pitching coach that it’s [Josh’s] game to lose. I have all the faith in the world in him. He has had multiple big moments throughout the year at the end of the game and he has always come through.”
And that he did, after giving up one run, Katz got the last two batters out, and now the Lane Tech team is City Champs.
Lane junior catcher Zach Shashoua said, “We’ve been there before. I have been playing with Josh since I was five. He’s got a fastball, a slider, a two seamer, a curveball and a change. The two seam was looking really nice today. He’s just always throwing strikes since he’s got the velocity. He found the zone, and we’re City champs.”
Lane starts IHSA 4A playoffs on Thursday as the five seed in the Glenbrook North Regional. Lane comes into the playoffs ranked 30th among 4A teams in Max Preps rankings. Don’t count out the Baseball Team especially with big time performances like today’s from Josh Katz.
