St. Charles East squeezes out win over Fremd
There are few words more important to a high school baseball coach than execution.
St. Charles East (2-1) manufactured a pair of middle-inning runs and pitchers Hunter Cisewski, Stephen Podany and Jake Milosch combined to slow down Fremd's offense during the Saints' 2-1 nonconference victory Wednesday afternoon in St. Charles.
Trailing 1-0 after 3 innings, the Saints tied the game in the fourth off Northwestern-bound right-handed pitcher Mack Rosman (0-1).
Austin Regelbrugge led off with the Saints' first hit - a single - advanced to second on a passed ball and moved to third on Anthony Adduci's groundout before coming across on Jimmy Dale's infield single.
In the fifth, senior designated hitter Jake Clodi began the rally with a double that sailed over the head of right fielder Jack Molnar. Junior Corbin Marucco advanced Clodi to third on a sacrifice bunt, setting the stage for leadoff hitter Reid Olson.
After taking a first-pitch breaking ball for a strike, Olson peered down at third-base coach Asquini and received the suicide squeeze sign.
"Coach (Asquini) gave me that first pitch to do whatever I want with it," said Olson. "It was a curveball so I just kind of spat at that. Then he gave me the sign and I got it down."
With Clodi charging in from third, Olson was able to put down the squeeze bunt in front of the mound for what turned out to be the game-winning run.
"It's every bit as much Jake Clodi getting the big double and then Corbin Marucco moving him to third (as the squeeze bunt)," said Asquini. "That's not just a 1-man show there. It's all those guys' run. That was a big run for us."
The risk-reward play paid off for the Saints.
"We scored two runs without hitting the ball through the infield," said Asquini. "We knew that once we saw who went down to the bullpen (before the game) that we'd have our hands full. We saw him (Rosman) last year and struggled.
"He's a quality pitcher. It was great for our guys to see that this early in the year and to have to execute to beat them. That's a big word us. We executed pretty well today when we needed to."
Olson was happy to contribute in any way possible.
"I've been not so hot at the plate lately but I think getting the squeeze down will probably help my confidence a lot," said Olson.
Fremd grabbed a 1-0 lead on Thomas Austin's 2-out RBI single in the third but wasted a pair of scoring chances later.
The Vikings (3-3) stranded runners at first and second in both the fifth and sixth innings against Saints junior reliever Podany, who fanned 2 while picking up his first varsity victory.
"Steve threw on Monday against Waubonsie Valley," said Asquini. "It was his first outing. He came back and was much better today."
Austin (3-for-3), Cody Patenaude (2-for-4) and Joe Uhrich (2-for-3) accounted for all 7 of the Vikings' base hits.
"I thought we had a real good approach and had a lot of good at-bats," said Vikings coach Chris Piggott. "We just couldn't come up with any timely hits and they executed."
Austin's 2-out single in the seventh kept it alive for Fremd before Regelbrugge robbed Ian Bohn of an extra-base hit with his game-ending diving catch in right field, preserving the save for Milosch.
"We made all the routine plays and had two great plays - with Austin on that last play of the game and the other was Jake Asquini's scoop at first base in the fifth," said the coach. "That's 2 runs if he doesn't scoop it."