Braden Grimm would be the first one to admit to the fact that he looks more physically like a baseball player than someone who spends a lot of time in a weight room.
But Grimm moved up in class and joined the big boys Wednesday.
The Evanston senior slugged a 400-foot home run where few left-handed hitters dare to go – just to the right of the stadium flagpole in left center field – and also pitched three scoreless innings as the Wildkits opened postseason play by pounding Leyden 12-0 in the semifinals of the Class 4A Evanston Regional tournament.
Evanston (24-7-1) breezed to victory in a slaughter rule-shortened 4½-inning game and will take on either Loyola Academy or Chicago Taft in the championship game on Saturday at ETHS. Game time for the title tilt has been moved to 2:30 p.m., with the winner of that contest advancing to the Lane Tech Sectional next week.
The Kits scored in every inning and banged out 13 hits, including a two-run homer by Charlie Kalil in the first and Grimm’s three-run shot in the third. That offensive outburst came on a rare day in Evanston where the wind was gusting straight out to center field, but neither blast required any extra help.
“Braden hit that ball out where I tell our guys it’s big boy territory,” said ETHS head coach Frank Consiglio. “He really teed off on that one. That was every bit of 400 feet. I’ve seen some right-handers hit the ball there – that’s their pull side – but you don’t see many hit to the opposite field like that.
“Braden’s stats for the season (.277 batting average during the regular season) are misleading.
He’s a hot and cold guy, and when he gets hot he can carry a team for a 10-game stretch. Today he had one of his best batting practice sets of the year. He got back control of the barrel of the bat, and it showed up in the game.”
Grimm’s homer was his third of the season. He also doubled in a run in the second when the Leyden outfield couldn’t chase down a long fly ball to left.
“That was definitely the farthest I’ve ever hit a ball, and it felt great,” he said. “When I was running to first I looked up at the ball, and then I looked up at the flag and saw it was blowing out. I thought, ‘This one’s got a chance.’
“I got off to a hot start this year (on offense) and then a little bit of scouting (by opponents) got to me. They got to my weakness, which is not hitting to the other side enough. Hopefully now I’m getting hot again for the playoffs.”
On the mound, Grimm pitched the first three innings and combined with Alex Van Durmen and Henry Rouch for 10 strikeouts and a three-hit shutout. Grimm improved to 6-1 on the mound with the win.
The Wildkits scored four runs in the first and five more in the second to break the game open early.
Kalil, who leads Evanston in almost every offensive category of significance, went 2-for-3 with three runs-batted-in and was even credited with a steal of home in the second. He got caught leaning off third base and should have been picked off, but the return throw to Leyden catcher Hassan Khrawish was high and Kalil slid in safely.
Eron Vega also went 2-for-3 for the winners and Avan Teuer and Jake Kobus contributed RBI singles in the rout.
Grimm reaches big boy territory in Wildkit romp is from Evanston RoundTable, Evanston's most trusted source for unbiased, in-depth journalism.