St. Charles East's Vyzral stymies Batavia
Mick Vyzral took the mound with a plan in mind Wednesday afternoon.
"I just wanted to attack the zone," said the St. Charles East senior right-hander, who pitched a 4-hit complete game during the Saints' 3-1 Upstate Eight Conference River Division triumph over the Bulldogs (1-4, 0-2) in Batavia.
Vyzral (1-1) carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and didn't allow more than 1 baserunner until the seventh when the Bulldogs scratched their only run across on pinch-hitter Ben Lynam's 2-out RBI single.
"Last week, I kind of played around the zone," said Vyzral, who struck out 8 and didn't walk a batter. "I walked a couple guys. You can't let that happen out here - that's just free runners.
"(Today) I attacked the zone and changed speeds a lot to get them off balance."
Relying on a cut fastball and curveball, Vyzral retired the first 10 batters - 6 on strikeouts - before plunking Pat Greco with a 1-0 pitch in the fourth.
Batavia junior Luke Beckmann (2-for-3) spoiled the no-hit bid with a 1-out infield single that glanced off Vyzral in the fifth.
Trailing 3-0, the Bulldogs made things interesting in the seventh.
With 1 out, designated hitter Mitch Boyer singled up the middle and pinch-runner Willie Firth advanced to second on a comebacker to Vyzral. Beckmann's infield single put runners on the corners and brought Saints coach Len Asquini out of the dugout for a conference at the mound.
"He just wanted me to throw my best pitch at the end there and I did," said Vyzral, who retired the final batter on a groundball to second baseman Jake Clodi. "I threw a curveball which was working the whole game."
"He attacked the strike zone and he threw three pitches for strikes," Asquini said of Vyzral. "He didn't mess around. He was all business and it was great to see.
"Last week, I didn't think our pitchers attacked the zone well enough. Our three pitchers (Austin Regelbrugge, Steve Podany and Vyzral) definitely have done that this week."
St. Charles East grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first inning as back-to-back singles by Jake Asquini and junior catcher Anthony Adduci helped set up an RBI single by junior designated hitter Austin Gift.
The Saints (4-2, 2-0) added a run in the third as Adduci singled and courtesy runner Jake Milosch stole second and eventually scored on a wild pitch.
Adduci, who went 3-for-4, delivered an RBI double in the fifth to cap the scoring for the Saints, who finished with 9 hits but stranded 8 runners.
"That's one thing we didn't do well offensively is attack," said Asquini. "We didn't take advantage of those situations to push in a couple more runs but we did enough today. The defense was solid. It was a good day for the Saints."
Senior Eric Huizenga allowed 3 runs in 5 innings before junior Michael Fossali pitched a pair of scoreless innings of relief for the Bulldogs.
"Our problem hasn't been pitching," said Batavia coach Matt Holm, whose team has managed just 1 run in 15 innings against the Saints. "I told the guys if we can hit, we might be dangerous. Obviously, it was a difficult day at the plate to say the least but even at the end there, we were still scratching for something.
"It's hard enough for us to generate offense right now - plus, he (Vyzral) was pitching a heck of a game. The guys are a little frustrated but that goes with it."