All Larkin’s Jeremy Gould wanted was a chance.
In a pitcher’s duel featuring few scoring opportunities, Gould finally got his wish in the bottom of the 10th inning.
Javier Cervantes drew a walk and Thomas Woodruff followed with a single Monday as the Royals put together a two-out rally in a Class 4A Dundee-Crown Regional quarterfinal game at Trout Park.
That ended up setting the stage for Gould. The senior outfielder broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single to center to give the Royals a 1-0 victory.
Larkin (5-25) plays Barrington at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in the regional semifinals at Dundee-Crown.
“It was just a lot of focus,” Gould said. “I knew I needed to make contact. I knew we needed one hit and it would do the job.
“I wanted to be in that position, but two outs is usually a struggle for me. I was able to come through. I needed this game to be over.”
The game-winner was redemption for Gould. He came up with a two-out single in the bottom of the eighth but was thrown out by John Palmer trying to reach third on Max Anderson’s single.
“That’s been Jeremy all year — just smooth, up the middle,” Larkin coach Niko Morado said. “He’s a base-hit guy, doesn’t try to do too much, stays within himself. He was able to line one up the middle and Javy was running hard.”
The winning run came without either starting pitcher still in the game, but both made a huge impact.
Anderson had a 19-strikeout game against Elgin during the regular season. He struck out 14 in 9 1/3 innings Monday before hitting his pitch count.
“He’s had some tough breaks where we kicked it around a little bit defensively behind him, but that’s Max,” Morado said. “Any time we have a big game, Elgin-Larkin, he gets up for it.”
The pitch count also thwarted Kyle Coates, who started for Elgin (1-29) and struck out 11 in 8 1/3 innings.
“That was a true testament to high school pitching right there,” Elgin coach Cody Beck said. “Both of them dug deep and were keeping every hitter on their toes, on both sides.
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“Anderson did a great job. Coates did a great job. Every hitter on both sides seemed fooled.”
The Royals face a tough test Wednesday in top-seeded Barrington, but the win over Elgin was a welcome moment.
“It’s big for this group,” Morado said. “For the year that we’ve had, to be able to come out and really put together a team win and grind this out, it’s a good feeling. It’s nice to keep playing playoff baseball.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.