A balk with the bases loaded sent Normal Community past Rock Island 2-1 walk-off win in a Class 4A Regional semifinal, 12 12-inning thriller from Moline on Wednesday.
Drew Stevens tripled with one out in the bottom of the 12th. Rock Island elected to intentionally walk Gavin Swartz and Andrew Naour to load the bases.
With Brady Burkhart at the plate, a balk on a 1-0 count scored Stevens from third and gave the Ironmen the walk-off win.
Sophomore Keagan Swain went 10 1/3 innings of one-run ball for the Rocks. He struck out six, walked one, and allowed three hits.
Gavin Swartz fired 8 2/3 innings for Normal Community. He allowed a run on two hits with 13 strikeouts.
Jonah Roper struck out five in 3 1/3 scoreless innings of relief to pick up the win.
Gavin Michaels was 2-for-4 with a double for the Ironmen. Max Heineman recorded the only RBI of the day for Normal Community. Corbin Harris finished 1-for-4 with a double, and Stevens was 1-for-5 with a triple.
Normal Community goes to 32-4 overall and will play the winner of Thursday's contest between Plainfield North and East Moline United on Saturday at noon for a Regional Championship.
