'All of my stuff': Glenwood pitcher ties strikeout record in IHSA state semifinal victory
JOLIET — Parker Detmers struck out nine of his first 10 batters.
The Chatham Glenwood junior ultimately tied the Class 3A state record with 14 strikeouts in a complete game and carried the Titans to a 2-1 victory over Washington in the Illinois High School Association state semifinals at Duly Health and Care Field on Friday.
Glenwood (33-7) advances to its fifth state championship game, scheduled for at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday against LaGrange Park Nazareth. Glenwood won titles in 2010 and 1996.
“It gave me a lot of confidence out there,” Detmer said. “If I could spot my stuff, I knew we had a good chance to win the game.”
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Best stuff
Detmers (10-2) fanned the top of the order in the first inning and maintained a perfect game until the fifth.
Washington’s Tyler Bishop then drew a walk with one out and Kyler Klings lined an RBI single to left field. That was all he ever gave up.
The Louisville commit struck out four of the final seven batters to tie the 3A mark set in 2016 by Ryan Sublette of Lemont.
“I had all of my stuff today,” the sizzling righty said. “My changeup was working really good against the lefties and my curveball, I could just drop it right in there.”
Detmers totaled 12 Ks in Glenwood’s 7-4 sectional final win over Mahomet-Seymour.
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“Very seldom do you ever have all of your pitches working for you as a pitcher,” Glenwood coach Casey Erickson said. “A lot of times you’ve just got to work through things. He stayed down in the zone, he threw his breaking ball for a strike early in the count, late in the count and behind the count — just competed really well and he was really efficient.”
Detmers took a line drive to his lower body in the seventh but quickly recovered and threw out the batter for the final out of the game.
“It hurt really bad, but thankfully the ball just died on the mound and I could just pick it up and throw it to first,” Detmers said.
Knocking on the door
Glenwood twice stranded runners in scoring position in the third and fourth innings.
The Titans pulled through the third time around in the fifth.
Facing an 0-2 count, senior catcher Will Plattner blasted an RBI triple to the gap in right-center field and pinch runner Jackson Rose added the insurance run on an infield error to build a 2-0 advantage.
Plattner previously flied out to center field with runners on first and second base in the third frame. The Wabash Valley commit said he just seems to hit better with two strikes.
“I think I was up when we had runners in scoring position and I popped out, and it made me pretty mad,” Plattner said. “I came up and if there was someone on, I knew that I had to do something. I just tried to keep it simple and put it in the gap somewhere so we could score.”
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Tyler Marconi had the only other hit for Glenwood in the fourth.
Washington starting pitcher Gus Lucas (11-2) took the loss in six innings despite giving up just two hits, five walks and one earned run. He struck out six. The Panthers dropped to 34-6 and will play in the third-place game for the second consecutive season.
“Starting off I didn’t really have my control,” said Lucas, who walked his first two batters in the third stanza before repelling the threat with three consecutive outs. “I was kind of dropping my elbow, but I finally made the correction and I ended up getting out of it.
"It felt great to get out of that one, but it would’ve been nice to get out of that fifth inning.”
Contact Bill Welt: (217) 788-1545, bill.welt@sj-r.com, Twitter.com/BillWelt
This article originally appeared on State Journal-Register: IHSA baseball finals: Chatham Glenwood beats Washington in 3A semifinal
