Lincoln-Way Central’s Conor McCabe is heading to Illinois Wesleyan to play baseball and study statistics. The senior first baseman’s own stats this spring aren’t too shabby, either.
He’s hitting .387 with six doubles and two triples. He leads the team with four homers and 26 RBIs.
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Good stats? Just ask the future statistics major.
“I always wish they could be better,” McCabe said. “But I’ll take what I got.”
His teammates will take it too, especially during the postseason. McCabe hit his second home run in as many playoff games Wednesday to help the eighth-seeded Knights knock off fifth-seeded Marist 8-2 in a Class 4A Lincoln-Way Central Sectional semifinal game in New Lenox.
McCabe came through with two hits and three runs for Lincoln-Way Central (18-19), while Daniel Houston added three hits and three RBIs and Desmond Gill drove in two runs.
Alex Panos (4-0) struck out five and allowed two runs on six hits in six innings for the pitching win. One hit came on a comebacker that smacked him in the backside in the second inning. Another came on a comebacker that nailed his right-pitching thumb in the fourth.
Even though the laces of the ball were still imprinted on his finger afterward, Panos wasn’t coming out of the game for the Knights, who take on Sandburg (22-12) — a 6-3 winner over Lincoln-Way West (27-9) in the other semifinal — at 10 a.m. Saturday for the sectional title.
“At that point, it ticked me off and I wanted to get back at those guys,” Panos said.
“Alex Panos has been nails for us the last several outings,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Ryan Kutt said. “Actually, he’s been nails for us the past two years.”
Matt Molesky and Ryan Hinde tallied two hits apiece for Marist (24-13).
McCabe, meanwhile, continued his torrid stretch. He hit a two-run homer in a six-run fourth Saturday as the host Knights stunned top-seeded Lincoln-Way East 6-5 to win the regional.
He was at it again Wednesday with a two-run blast over the left field fence in a four-run second.
“He’s an absolute dude,” Kutt said of McCabe. “He’s one of the guys who … put it this way … if you have nine Conor McCabes in the lineup, you’re going to have a really successful baseball team.
“Conor sets the standard for our guys. He gets after the guys when they are not doing what’s expected of them. He’s a natural leader.”
McCabe has power but doesn’t consider himself a home-run hitter.
“Last year, I had two home runs,” he said. “This year, I had two during the regular season. I’m more of an opposite field, go up the middle type of guy.
“But I’m starting to find some power in my swing.”
Panos certainly appreciates what McCabe brings to the team, especially when he’s on the mound.
“He’s an automatic hit,” Panos said of McCabe. “He’s seeing the ball well and he’s really crushing the ball. That’s what a three-hitter does, and he’s doing a great job.”
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The Knights are doing a great job in the postseason as well despite closing the regular season on a 5-15 skid to end up with a 15-19 record.
The last time they won back-to-back games was April 13 and April 16 with a 4-3 win over Stagg and a 3-1 victory over Sandburg. Losing, however, is now a distant memory.
Interestingly, McCabe pointed out a heartbreaking 4-3 loss in eight innings to Catholic League Blue power Brother Rice — Kutt’s alma mater — to end the regular season was the turning point.
“In that game, I could see the fight in everyone,” McCabe said. “We lost in eight innings to a top team in the state. I could see the momentum coming in for everyone. That got us going.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.