JOLIET, Ill. • Waterloo coach Mark Vogel smelled the fourth-inning squeeze bunt coming and called for a pitchout at the perfect time.
When the execution went wrong, nothing went right for the Bulldogs.
Tyler Heine, Kaneland's No. 9 hitter, reached across the plate to bunt home the go-ahead run, and the Knights tacked on five more to defeat Waterloo 8-2 in the Class 3A baseball semifinals Friday at Silver Cross Field.
Waterloo (32-4) will conclude its first final-four weekend since 1988 against Nazareth Academy in the third-place game at 9 a.m. Saturday. Kaneland (25-10) will play Oak Forest at noon in the title game.
"We did have a pitchout on," Vogel said. "We didn't get it out far enough. I think it did turn on that. If we execute that, it's still 2-2. It's a good ballgame. We just never seemed to recover from that inning. That's uncharacteristic of us, but they're high school kids.
"If we execute the pitchout, get it out a little further, the game might be different. But you've got to give them credit. They executed better than we did and they deserve what they got."
The Bulldogs managed just four hits off Kaneland ace Bobby Thorson (7-3) and failed to knock the senior right-hander out when they had him on the ropes in the first three innings.
Waterloo scored the game's first two runs on RBI singles by Alex Wittenauer in the second and Lucas Wetzler in the third, but the Bulldogs could not capitalize further on the four walks they drew before Thorson gained command of his off-speed pitches.
"He didn't have command of his other pitches early, and we didn't take advantage of that," Vogel said. "Once they got the lead, he settled down and really pitched a good ballgame."
A.J. Crutchfield (9-2) looked strong early, but the junior lefty did not survive the unfortunate fourth inning.
Consecutive ground-ball singles by Kaneland's seventh and eighth hitters evened the score at 2-2 and brought set up Heine's fateful squeeze.
"I saw the pitcher and catcher make eye contact, so I thought that something was coming," Heine said. "I saw the ball tailing outside and put it right out there down the first base line."
A second run scored on the play when the throw got away, and Crutchfield was replaced by Brad Dellinger with the Buffalos trailing 4-2.
Thorson then retired 10 straight and 11 of the final 12 as Waterloo's deficit grew.
"He kept our guys off-balance," said Waterloo senior Garrett Schlecht, a Chicago Cubs draft pick who went 0 for 2 to end the season with a .488 average. "He knew how to pitch. He got to us, got in our heads.
"A good job on his part. There was a tremendous difference on the speed from his fastball to his other pitches."
