Waubonsie Valley's work results in win

At times this season Waubonsie Valley's baseball team has made it look a little easy out there.

The Warriors, though, showed Thursday just how hard they've been working to win.

They rallied to beat Glenbard East 5-4 in Aurora behind Luke Marzano's game-tying home run and Brandon Petersen's go-ahead double in the bottom of the fifth inning.

The victory capped a three-game sweep for Waubonsie Valley (13-3, 8-1) and keeps the Warriors on pace to challenge for the Upstate Eight Valley title. With key series waiting in the wings, every league win is a big one.

"It's nice knowing that if you're down you can come back and retake the lead," Marzano said. "You can't let up one game because that could be the difference in winning conference or not."

After being outscored 12-1 the previous two days, Glenbard East (5-8, 1-8) came out ready to challenge the Warriors in the finale. Ryan Strick's 2-run double pushed Waubonsie Valley to a lead in the second inning, but the Rams got an unearned run in the third inning off winning pitcher Preston Everts.

The Rams followed with their best inning of the series in the fourth. Bryce Roberts tripled home 2 runs and Phil Abruzino followed with an RBI single to give Glenbard East a 4-2 lead.

When Rams starter Tyler Huber sent down the Warriors in order in the bottom of the fourth, Glenbard East looked in business. Marzano's 2-run homer and Petersen's bloop double, however, gave the Warriors the lead for good at 5-4 in the fifth.

"Our guys did a pretty good job today for the most part," said Rams coach Joel Pelland. "It's tough, but this group will keep battling. Baseball doesn't give you much time to feel sorry for yourself, so we'll come back Saturday and try to bounce back against West Chicago."

Ryan Jones notched the save with 2 scoreless innings of relief for Everts. Glenbard East put the tying run on first base in the seventh, but he was cut down by catcher Nick Price trying to steal second.

"I'm pretty sure this was the first time we've come from behind to win, so that was good to see," said Warriors coach Bryan Acevedo. "As long as we continue to do what we're trying to do, good things will happen. That's what we saw today."

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