Blank space no more: Ironmen baseball clinches state berth after another exhilarating finish
- Jonathan Michel
- Jun 10
- 6 min read
BLOOMINGTON — The first official practice of Normal Community’s baseball season began inside the school’s gym, where head coach Ryan Short pointed out an eyesore.
“We looked at that wall where all the orange [state] banners hang and we said ‘There's a hole and we haven't put a baseball one up there in a while,’” Short said.
That void will be no more after the Ironmen won Monday’s Class 4A Illinois Wesleyan Super-Sectional 2-0 over Aurora Waubonsie Valley at Jack Horenberger Field.
“We don't want to be done playing baseball,” Klunke said. “We want two more games, we want to hang that banner up at Normal Community.”
Klunke nearly crossed the finish line for the Ironmen after 6.2 shutout innings with five strikeouts and five walks. But instead, the Ironmen went from one Lucas to another as Lucas Beaty came in to get a game-ending strikeout, just as Klunke did in Saturday’s sectional title victory.
Want to read more?
Subscribe to clutchsportsil.com to keep reading this exclusive post.
