Downers South walks past Addison Trail
On an awfully tough day to hit, Downers Grove South's baseball team still found a way to pile up runs.
The Mustangs took full advantage of 11 walks and a hit batter to beat Addison Trail 8-1 in the second game of a three-game West Suburban Gold series on a cold and windy Tuesday in Downers Grove. They'll go for the series sweep on Wednesday.
"It's cold and not a lot of strikes, and sometimes it can be hard to hit on those days," said Downers South coach Darren Orel. "I'd like to see a little bit more offense, to be honest, but what are you going to do? They're walking you, and you don't want your guys pressing and pushing and trying to force things."
Downers South (4-2, 2-0) starter Ryan Taylor and Blazers (1-5, 0-2) counterpart Jake Crandal cruised through two scoreless innings before the Mustangs surged to a 5-0 lead in the bottom of the third. They needed only 1 hit - Joe Engel's RBI double - to break it open.
Eleven batters came to the plate and seven walked. Three of the walks came with the bases loaded to drive in runs.
The Mustangs didn't tear the cover off the ball, managing 8 runs on only 6 hits, but they didn't need to bash the ball. Especially with Taylor pitching 5 perfect innings on only 43 pitches.
"It's been the same story all year," said Addison Trail coach Mike Kennedy. "We're giving teams free bases with wild pitches and walks. They scored 3 runs there without putting the ball in play. We need to be tougher and be able to bounce back, especially on a day like this where you know there won't be a lot of runs scored."
Downers South built a 6-0 lead in the fifth on Max Soderlund's RBI groundout, and added 2 runs in the sixth on another bases-loaded walk and Joe Lacivita's infield single that drove in a run.
Taylor's perfection came to an end in the top of the sixth when a pair of infield hits by Eric Gilliam and Jaime Valdez, a walk and an error led to an unearned run. Jack Villa closed out the game for the Mustangs with a scoreless seventh.
Taylor struck out six, all looking, while recording nine groundball outs in 6 innings of work. All 3 hits by Addison Trail stayed in the infield.
"I knew it was going to be a rough day and I just had to stay warm," Taylor said. "I had to put the ball over the plate and let my teammates do the work."
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