Baseball: West Chicago handles Larkin
A lot can happen in baseball when you simply put the ball in play. West Chicago has been doing just that in its last two games and the result has been a pair of wins.
The Wildcats (2-1) didn't necessarily rip the cover off the ball on Tuesday, but still had 11 well-placed hits in a 9-3 nonconference win at Larkin. West Chicago scored 11 runs in its previous win.
"We have just been stressing making contact the past couple games," West Chicago coach Dan McCarthy said. "We swung the bats pretty well today. It's amazing what can happen when you get a couple hits to fall in. Guys start getting a little more confidence and they go up to the plate with a whole different attitude. It was a nice win for us. You know you are always going to get a tough game coming here. So we are feeling pretty excited."
Rob Szulczewski led the Wildcats' offense going 3-for-4 with 3 RBA. Szulczewski had an RBI single his first time up as part of a 4-run first inning. Brian Sullivan and Garrett Hosticka also had RBI singles in the inning.
Szulczewski added a 2-run single in a 3-run fifth inning that extended the Wildcats' lead to 8-1 at the time.
"I just went up there looking for something to hit and trying to put the ball in play," Szulczewski said. "We knew their starter had a good curveball from facing him last year. So we were trying to get him to throw some fastballs. The whole team has been making better contact the last two games. Hopefully we can keep that up and continue to score some runs."
Hosticka had a lead off triple in the fourth inning and scored on a ground ball by Sullivan. Hosticka added an RBI single in the sixth inning.
That was more than enough support for pitcher Kyle Olsen. The senior yielded just 3 runs on 6 hits over 7 innings in his first outing of the year. He struck out 7 and walked just 2. Olsen gave up a run in the first inning then retired 15 of the next 18 batters before the Royals scored a couple runs in the sixth inning.
"It felt real good to be back out on the mound," Olsen said. "I was able to locate my fastball and my curveball. It helped to get a four-run lead right away. I just had to focus on throwing strikes."
Kobe Mounivong took the loss for the Royals (1-1). Keonne Mebane had an RBI triple and Seth Morford added an RBI single for Larkin.
"We kind of let this one get away by not doing some of the little things," Larkin coach Matt Esterino said. "We have to control the things we can control and there are some things we need to need to work on doing better."