Daniel Coyle delivers on mound, at plate as St. Laurence wins Class 3A state title. ‘Live for that type of stuff.'
The bat. The ball. St. Laurence baseball history. Daniel Coyle wanted it all in his hands.
The junior infielder had not pitched in the playoffs. But he was sent to the mound Saturday with the first state championship in program history on the line. He wouldn't have had it any other way.
'I was a little bit nervous that they wouldn't give me it, but I wanted it so bad,' Coyle said. 'I wanted to finish it. I wanted to bring it home for coach Pete (Lotus) and coach Adam (Lotus).'
Coyle then went out and delivered, earning the pitching win and providing the go-ahead RBI double in the sixth inning as the Vikings beat Benet 8-5 in the Class 3A state championship game at Duly Health and Care Field in Joliet.
South Suburban College commit Enrique Villanueva added two RBIs for St. Laurence (37-5), while Adrian Perez, SSC recruit Ben Geary and Orlando Vazquez each went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
It's the third team state championship across all sports for the Vikings, along with a Class 5A football title in 1976 and a Class AA state title in boys wrestling in the 1989-90 season.
'I couldn't picture it better myself,' Coyle said. 'I love it. I live for that type of stuff.
'It just feels good to bring one home finally.'
Down 5-2 after three innings, Benet (27-13) rallied and forced a 5-5 tie in the fifth as Josh Gugora came through with an RBI double off Coyle.
Coyle didn't have to wait long for redemption. In the top of the sixth, he came up with a runner on second and ripped an RBI double into left field.
'I knew I was going to do some damage,' Coyle said. 'He was leaving his slider up. I saw it up, I just pieced it. That's all I can do. It felt great.
'Having the bat in my hands in that situation, it's awesome.'
Coyle allowed one run on three hits and struck out four over the final three innings.
He hadn't pitched in the playoffs and hadn't thrown three innings in an outing since an April 29 win over St. Rita, but his coaches were confident Coyle was the one to make history happen.
'He's one of the toughest kids,' Pete Lotus said of Coyle. 'He's never afraid of the moment. We knew that when he was a freshman.'
The Vikings added two insurance runs in the seventh on an RBI single from Villanueva and a sacrifice fly from Danny Donovan.
In between, Donovan started a fantastic defensive sequence, making a strong throw from the warning track in right-center and hitting junior second baseman Mickey Lotus, who threw out Dominik Tomala at third on a would-be triple.
St. Laurence previously had won four state trophies, including three under Pete Lotus, but had yet to grab the big one. Mickey Lotus, Pete's son, was around for some of the near misses.
'I've always wished,' Mickey said. 'I've always dreamed about playing in this game, especially after watching them obviously not succeed. It's so awesome that we're here.'
The Vikings had just three seniors in their starting lineup. They came into the spring with several new faces in prominent roles and lost their ace, Louisville recruit Joe Olson, with a season-ending injury before the season began.
Yet this was the St. Laurence team to finally break through.
'We said from the start that people might count us out, but we're not going to count ourselves out,' Pete Lotus said. 'We're just going to believe in each other.
'And I think that's what they did better than anyone was believe in each other.'
Everyone certainly had faith Saturday in Coyle.
'He's always just been a dog,' Mickey Lotus said of Coyle. 'He's built for those moments. I was talking to him and he wanted the ball.
'He wanted it.'
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