Icing it for Rice
Daugherty hits walk-off grand slam as Brother Rice routs St. Laurence 10-0 to clinch Catholic Blue title
For most of his baseball career, Brother Rice’s Nick Daugherty has played up.
Brought up to the varsity as a sophomore, Daugherty didn’t get to play at all as the season was canceled by the Illinois High School Association due to the pandemic.
But he was one of the younger players last spring as a junior.
“I played up when I was 9-U through 13-U and then all the kids left for high school,” he said. “Then I got to play my regular age. It can be tough playing up.
“You know you’re not the best player on the team. There are five kids on the team who are studs and you just have to battle.”
For the second year row, Daugherty won that battle for the Crusaders.
The senior left fielder hit a game-ending grand slam Tuesday afternoon as Brother Rice rolled to a 10-0 Catholic League Blue victory over St. Laurence in Chicago.
That clinched the clincher for the Crusaders (25-4, 15-2), who won their 21st Catholic League championship outright as Providence beat Mount Carmel 5-3.
Daugherty entered the game with a team-best .556 batting average and .692 on-base percentage. It’s one of the rare years he has gone up against players his own age.
“It’s pretty big to win this,” said Daugherty, an NCAA Division II Maryville recruit. “It’s huge for our program. It’s huge for coach (Sean) McBride. He won it two of his first three years coaching.
“It shows how good of a program we have and how good of a coach he is.”
It also showed how clutch of a player Daugherty is.
In 2021, he had the winning double in the top of the 11th against St. Rita to help Brother Rice clinch a share of the Catholic
Blue title with the Mustangs and St. Laurence.
This time, Daugherty’s home run over the left field fence against the Vikings (22-6, 10-5) was just as important.
“You want to close it out as quickly as you can,” McBride said. “Obviously, they are never out of it. It’s a little less stressful to get it over with early.”
Indeed, 24 hours earlier, the Crusaders held an 11-1 lead over St. Laurence heading into the bottom of the fifth and were three outs away from a win by the 10-run rule in Burbank.
The Vikings, however, scored nine runs in the bottom of fifth and the Crusaders sweated out a 13-11 win. Daugherty’s homer made sure recent history would not repeat itself.
“We learned they are a tough team and they are not going to stop until they get 21 outs,” Daugherty said. “I just got the
barrel on it and it went out.”
Kansas State-bound Christian Holmes hit a three-run homer in the third and Will Flanigan added a two-run single in that inning for Brother Rice.
Junior right-hander Cole Van Assen picked up the shutout, but the Purdue recruit had to escape two bases-loaded jams in the third and fourth innings.
“I love Cole on the bump,” Holmes said. “I love his pace and I love the aura about him when he pitches. Being able to work with him is an amazing feeling.”
St. Laurence managed just three hits but found other ways to get on base and put the pressure on the Crusaders. Both times, though, Van Assen emerged unscathed.
“Innings change if we can put together a two-out hit there,” St. Laurence coach Pete Lotus said. “The whole complexion of the game can change. We have to do a better job of coming through in that
situation.”