Palatine baseball grabbed their first home field win against the Barrington Broncos since 2018 with an incredible pitching performance from the Pirates.
This is the same Palatine team that were no hit 14-1 to the same Bronco squadron just two days prior.
But Head Coach Paul Belo knew this game was different.
“Well first off, we faced a different style of pitching and not the same way of Bryce Koch, who is a Cincinnati signee and potential MLB prospect,” Belo said. “We’ve seen some unbelievable pitching this year.”
The Pirates also faced the York Dukes earlier this year when seventh ranked high schooler in the nation Ryan Sloan pitched, with numerous MLB scouts present.
Coach Belo also had high levels of confidence in junior pitcher Peter Mulhern.
“I knew it right from the go,” Belo said “I looked at [Peter] and said ‘it’s going to be your time to shine and that you are going to absolutely shove on that day.’”
Mulhern did in fact deliver. After 6.1 innings, he had allowed two earned runs, five hits, only walked one batter, and threw 11 strikeouts. He also found himself deep into counts, concluding his performance with 109 pitches.
“During the game I didn’t really feel anything and the adrenaline was high,” Mulhern said. “As soon as I sat down, I started to really feel the pain in my arm.”
The game started low scoring due to both dealers, Mulhern and Barrington senior Patrick Podlesnik, only allowing one run each through three innings.
Palatine would gain a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth, thanks to an Ian Sherman single that scored Kentucky commit Toby Peterson.
The game would stay that way until the bottom of the sixth, where Dillon Fitzpatrick homered on a hit that was fair by a few feet beyond the left field fence.
Mulhern kept his composure.
“As soon as it happened I just wanted the ball back,” Mulhern said. “I knew I was still feeling good.”
He wouldn’t allow another hit after the fact, only a walk to Julian Ashley-Friedman that didn’t do any damage.
The Pirates turned up the heat in the bottom of the sixth. Ian Sherman got the ball rolling with another RBI single that scored Sean Wasserman.
Then, during Joe Riley’s at bat, Patrick Podlesnik’s only wild pitch occurred at an unfortunate time, and gave enough time for Toby Peterson to score. Riley would lay down a sacrifice bunt shortly after that was enough to score Sherman.
Palatine needed three more outs to close out on their first overall win over Barrington in over 700 days.
After Mulhern threw strikeout No. 11, they brought senior Sean Wasserman from center field in a pressure position to send the Broncos packing.
“I wasn’t really worried,” Wasserman said. “Our offense picked us up and Peter helped shut down their mentality.”
Wasserman had Bryce Koch fly out and then he would strike out Soran Leahy to give Palatine their first win at home since last year.
This is a win that can be the turnaround point in the season for the now 3-6 Pirates.
“You always need marquee wins in a season,” Belo said. “Those can ensure you can play at the highest level of competition and that’s what Barrington was.”
The Pirates will have another Monday Wednesday split with the rival Fremd Vikings this week. Wednesday’s home game will broadcasted live on YouTube by PHS PTV for those that can’t make the crosstown classic.
