Baseball: Evergreen Tops Tinley in Battle of 'Parks'

Evergreen Park 4, Tinley Park 3. Mustang pitcher Jesse McLain gives up two earned runs over seven innings to pick up the win.

Touching All the Bases: Every run was scored in the first three innings of play as an early offensive battle slowly turned into a baseball pitcher’s duel. Evergreen Park hung on to beat Tinley Park 4-3 in the Mustangs' final regular season game.  The Mustangs took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, but Titan leadoff batter Andrew Sebastian erased the lead with a booming homer over the left field fence to tie the game 1-1 after one. The Evergreen Park bats stayed active in the second. A leadoff walk to Kyle Bock started the inning. Bock scored on Bobby McAvoy’s RBI double. Two batters later, Dillon Knight drove McAvoy home with an RBI double of his own. Titans third baseman Nelz Ursich singled and scored off of Josh Simon’s RBI single in …

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Local Sports Notebook

Tinley's Stroz Comes Up a Single Shy of Cycle

Titans' Miranda Stroz shines in a 14-4 softball win over Thornton Fractional North.

Tinley Park freshman Miranda Stroz put on a show in a 14-4 softball win over Thornton Fractional North on Wednesday. Stroz doubled, tripled and homered, leaving her a single away from hitting for the cycle. Stroz, also starting at pitcher, picked up the win on the mound. How's that for double duty?  The Andrew girls water polo team prevailed in a tight sectional matchup vs. Marian Catholic. The T-Bolts rallied from a late-game deficit to win 11-8 and advanced to the sectional semifinals. The Andrew boys volleyball team lost a back-and-forth battle to Lincoln-Way Central earlier this week. After a slow start to its season, the Andrew girls soccer team has stormed back in conference play. The T-Bolts recently defeated Stagg 3-1 to earn a …

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Baseball: Andrew Thunders Past Tinley for Zabrocki Cup

Andrew 13, Tinley Park 3. T-Bolts' offense gets going right from the start, and the host Titans are defenseless to stop their crosstown rival.

Touching All the Bases: Nick DeBenedetti’s leadoff double for Andrew seemed to set the tone early in Friday night’s game. The Thunderbolts took a 1-0 lead in the first inning and added four more runs in the second, thanks in large part to a two-run double by Brian Cobb.  But the host Titans got back within striking distance in the bottom of the second. Three consecutive one-out hits and Adam Gunther’s RBI saw them put two runs on the board. After a scoreless third inning, Andrew’s Pat Elget hit a blooping RBI single in the fourth to give the Thunderbolts a 6-2 lead. And then in the fifth, the T-Bolts blew the doors off. Andrew consistently put the ball in play and capitalized on poor Tinley Park fielding to score five runs in the inning.  …

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Sports Video Highlight Reel: Too Little, Too Late for Tinley Park

Titans battle to end, but drop 7-4 decision to Oak Forest in a recent South Suburban Conference baseball game.

An early deficit and stellar pitching from Oak Forest ace Kyle Funkhouser were too much to overcome as Tinley Park dropped a 7-4 decision to the Bengals in a recent South Suburban Conference matchup. The Titans put themselves in a hole early as defensive errors led to three Bengal runs in the top of the first inning. Starting pitcher Andrew Sebastian hit a batter with the bases loaded in the third and gave up a fifth-inning home run as the deficit increased to 7-0, while 13 strikeouts by Funkhouser kept the Titans down offensively. However, a late-inning rally kept the Titans' hopes alive as they knocked in three runs in the sixth thanks to a two-run single by Pat Cosgrave. Max Lapthorne singled in another run in the seventh, but the …

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Baseball: Tinley Rallies Past Shepard in 7th

Tinley Park 3, Shepard 2. Max Lapthorne's game-winning single earns the Titans their fourth conference win.

Touching All the Bases: Tinley Park struck first in Thursday’s game against visiting Shepard on an RBI double by Owen Griffin in the first inning. The Astros answered right back in the top of the second, scoring on Stano Lio’s RBI single and an error after Erik Jensen hit into a fielder's choice. Tinley’s Dylan Osterman and Shepard’s Kevin Siergiej engaged in a pitcher’s duel, and the Astros held a fragile 2-1 lead until the bottom of the seventh. After Siergiej walked Nelz Ursich, Shepard coach Frank DiFoggio made a pitching change. Nick Medlicott came on in relief, and the Titan bats went to work. Medlicott struck out Ryan Bunn but then gave up a single to Kyle Sherdian. Adam Gunther flew out to center, but it wasn't deep enough to allow…

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Hot Shot: Tinley Park's Sebastian Honored as Athlete of the Week

Senior guard Andrew Sebastian proves he belongs on the same floor as the best shooters in the state.

Tinley Park's Andrew Sebastian kept his basketball season alive by traveling to the IHSA's 3-Point Showdown last weekend. Now, he's carrying his hot hand on to another honors court. He is Patch's Athlete of the Week, too.  Sebastian advanced to the preliminary round of competition at the Class 3A state tournament before being knocked out. But even though he didn't make it all the way, he said he still is grateful for the opportunity to show off his skills in the 3-point shooting contest. "It was one of the greatest experiences of my life getting to shoot on a college floor," he said. "I'm probably never going to do that again." Sebastian said he was honored to get the chance to compete with the best of the best. "The coolest part was just …

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Tinley Park Coach Excited to Work with 'Great' Bunch

Bulldogs won't let softball loss to Stagg get them down; Sebastian, Gooden experience thrill of IHSA's 3-Point Showdown.

The softball season kicked off this week when Tinley Park took on Stagg in a non-conference matchup. The Titans fell 9-1 to Stagg on Wednesday, but the loss didn't get Tinley Park down. Coach Wendy Podbielniak said the game won't define what the Titans can do this season. "We've got a great group of kids, they are great athletes and great students," she said. "We're going to do some things this year." * Tinley Park's Andrew Sebastian and Vince Gooden competed in the IHSA's 3-Point Showdown. Read the full story here.  * In boys gymnastics, Andrew fell to Lyons Township in a close decision. See pictures from the matchup here.  * Former Titan Roosevelt Green recently wrapped his sophomore basketball season with St. Xavier.

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Tinley Park Banking on a Bounce Back Effect

Titans coach Brian Gibbons puts a new emphasis on an old hallmark--the team comes first.

Coach: Brian Gibbons. Last Year's Record: 8-16 overall, 5-10 in the South Suburban Blue. Opener: March 18 vs. Thornton. Quick hit: "(We're looking) to rebound from a disappointing season," Tinley Park coach Brian Gibbons said. "We will work hard and look to run the bases to make up for a lack of power. If we can get a pitcher or two to step up, we look to be competitive in our conference." Infield: Potential infield starters include Max Lapthorne, Andrew Sebastian, Adam Gunther, Nelz Ursich, and Josh Narbiaz and Josh Simon. Sebastian, a senior second baseman, returns after hitting .514 with 26 RBIs. Lapthorne hit .374. Outfield: Senior Cameron Hickey returns for his fourth season playing varsity ball.  Supporting him will be Pat Cosgrave, …

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Boys Basketball: Tinley Park's Comeback Falls Short in Regional Championship Game

Brooks 77, Tinley Park 69. Titans, led by Andrew Sebastian, showed their mettle before falling to the Chicago Public League champion Eagles.

The Hot Read: Brooks, the Chicago Public League champion, showed off its quickness in stealing the ball 10 times in the first half to jump out to a 36-23 lead over Tinley Park at the half. Brooks’ lead would swell to 49-27 early in the third quarter before the Titans came roaring back before falling  77-69 in the Rich East Class 3A Regional title game in Park Forest. Patch MVP: Tinley Park’s Andrew Sebastian (18 points) hit four three-pointers in the second half to help keep the Titans in the game. Key Stats: Tinley Park's 18 fouls allowed Brooks to make frequent trips to the free-throw line, where the Eagles shot 29-of-46. By comparison, Tinley Park was 8-of-10 from the foul line. Tinley outrebounded Brooks 32-25, but the Eagles made 16 …

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Analysis: Tinley Park Has Plenty of Fourth-Quarter Heroes

Titans senior guard Aaron Hall scored the game-winner Wednesday night, but many of his teammates stepped up during Tinley's furious rally in the regional semifinal victory.

This week, March began. For hoop fans all across the country, that means the Madness is underway. Madness certainly found its way to the Rich East gym in Park Forest on Wednesday night, where Tinley Park defeated Rich East 61-59 on a last-second shot. While Tinley Park certainly will enjoy the regional semifinal victory, the Titans don’t want a repeat of falling into a 13-point fourth-quarter hole, as they did Wednesday night. Rich East and Tinley Park battled neck-and-neck in the first half, and Rich East led 29-28 at halftime. The physical battle inside throughout the game was a tough one. “It was really physical,” Tinley Park forward Tony Core said while pointing to the blood on his jersey. “You can see it on my jersey.” The third …

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