Connor Husa’s night got off to a rough start Tuesday when the senior first baseman struck out in each of his first three at-bats for Lincoln-Way Central.
It ended, just after 11 p.m., with one of the most memorable moments of his baseball career.
“It’s really a great feeling,” Husa said. “My whole life, I’ll remember this.”
Husa’s RBI single with two outs in the bottom of the eighth lifted the Knights to an 8-7 win over Andrew in a SouthWest Suburban Red game at Ozinga Field in Crestwood.
“I haven’t had a walk-off hit like this since Little League,” Husa said. “We needed that. It’s a big game. It’s 11 o’clock at night. I needed to end this.
“I’m happy I was able to get it done.”
Louisville recruit Collin Mowry had a triple and drove in three runs for the Knights (9-8, 4-1), while Landon Mensik also tripled, walked three times and scored three runs.
Aaron O’Grady threw three scoreless innings in relief, allowing just one hit, to earn the win.
Michael Pustelnik and A.J. Le had triples, while Michael Morawski singled and walked three times for Andrew (9-9, 1-2), which was held to four hits in the cold.
Husa came to the plate after the first two hitters in the eighth walked but the next two struck out. He laced a sinking line drive into center field for the game-winner.
“It was just a huge at-bat,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Mitch Nowicki said of Husa’s hit. “He had some rough at-bats leading up to that, so I’m so proud of him for gathering his composure and just competing.
“He got it done.”
For Husa, the adjustment was simple.
“I started off slow this game and I needed that big hit,” he said. “I just had to hit fastballs. They were throwing fastballs to me all game, so I was just waiting to see the fastball, get on top of it and try to get it past the infield, and that’s what happened.
“To do this in a conference game was big.”
The Knights have a young team. Three of the first four hitters in Tuesday’s lineup were sophomores.
So, as a senior, Husa is trying to step up and lead the way.
“I just want to help my team win games,” he said. “I have to be ready to come up and get big hits like that.”
Mowry’s two-run triple gave the Knights a 6-2 lead in the fourth.
“This is great,” Mowry said. “We came out here ready to play from the get-go — coming out here and playing under the lights just fired us up.
“It’s cold, rainy. We knew coming out here it was going to be a tough day and it would come down to who wants it more, and we did.”
Andrew battled back with five unanswered runs before Mensik tripled and scored on Mowry’s RBI groundout to force a 7-7 tie in the sixth.
O’Grady was huge out of the bullpen, pitching around a one-out triple in the seventh and stranding the bases loaded in the eighth.
“That was a gutsy performance from another senior,” Nowicki said of O’Grady. “He took the ball and wanted it. He got out of some big jams and made some huge pitches. He rose to the moment.”
It was a frustrating loss for the Thunderbolts, whose pitchers issued 14 walks.
“I’m proud of our guys and how we battled, but you can’t walk that many guys and you can’t strike out in big situations like we did,” Andrew coach Dave DeHaan said. “That’s kind of how our season has been going. We’ve got to start being more consistent.”
Steve Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.