Kamari Dawkins stepped out of the batter’s box a few times. Homewood-Flossmoor’s junior catcher was admittedly analyzing the situation a little too much.
“My head was just going crazy (during the at bat). I think a lot, I don’t know why,” Dawkins said. “I watched a fastball and I looked at my coach and I knew he didn’t want me to take that one. Once I seen (pinch runner) Kaleb (Wilson) steal second, I knew I had to get him in. The baseball gods, they helped out.”
Dawkins didn’t take the next hittable pitch. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning of a tie game, he barreled up a Nolan Bartkus breaking ball and lined it just out of reach of Lincoln-Way Central left fielder Connor Kelch to drive in the game-winning run.
The Vikings walked it off 8-7.
“Our whole mantra is ‘Be ready to get punched in the face.’ We got punched in the face. We showed early (in the season) that we’ll punch back but lately we haven’t really showed that,” coach Marcus Rodgers said. “Today, we were able to show that.”
Dawkins’ hit was actually H-F’s second comeback of the evening. It trailed by four runs after five innings. The sun was setting both on the day and, seemingly, on the Vikings.
But they poured in five runs in the sixth to take the lead. The biggest blow was a Terri Weathersby two-run home run. He was pinch hitting for Dawkins.
“Terri’s my guy. He’s been there since day one,” Dawkins said. “I trust everybody on this team.”
But LWC tied it in the seventh before Dawkins finished things off. Rodgers said it just might be the kind of the win that gives a team some momentum.
H-F came into the May 6 game having lost seven of eight games, including heart breaker in New Lenox the night before.
“We lost a 1-0 nothing ballgame (last night) and we played tight. But (tonight) we just stayed in the fight,” Rodgers said. “This is a playoff type of win that we need to use to catapult us.”
Starting pitcher Cormac Saunders allowed six runs over six innings in the win but only walked two. He gave up a pair of wind-aided home runs on a day with gusts blowing out at up to 28 miles per hour.
“He won’t pitch bad. He’s going to keep us in the game and he’ll be the first to tell you ‘I’ll be better next time,’” Rodgers said. “He is an absolute bulldog and that’s the way we want him to pitch. I promise you next time he’ll be even better.”
Jhames Holley had a big day at the plate for the Vikings, going 3-4 with a home run, a double and three RBIs. Marcos Morales was 3-3 and drove in one.
