Baseball: Downers Grove South hands Willowbrook another 1-run loss
With the score tied in the bottom of the seventh, the bases loaded and nobody out, Ty McCulloch simply wanted to make contact.
Turns out it wasn't needed.
A passed ball allowed the winning run to score for Downers Grove South in Saturday's 2-1 West Suburban Gold baseball victory over visiting Willowbrook.
The game-winner preserved a marvelous game from McCulloch, who pitched a 3-hitter with 9 strikeouts while retiring 14 of the last 15 batters he faced.
Oh ... and the senior left-hander also launched a solo home run to tie the game 1-1 in the bottom of the sixth inning.
"Whatever it takes to win," said McCulloch, who has 2 of the team's 4 home runs. "You just have to compete every pitch and do what you've got to do. I felt great out there. I felt more confident as the game went along."
To start the bottom of the seventh, an error, a walk and an intentional walk loaded the bases for the Mustangs (22-8, 12-5), who fell behind 1-0 in the third inning when defensive miscues led to Jon Kelso's sacrifice fly for Willowbrook (13-15, 10-7).
Warriors starting pitcher Matt Pizur notched his 10th strikeout on McCulloch, but the third strike rolled away as Corey Vondra raced in from third with the winning run.
"We pitched well enough to win, obviously, and their kid did the same," said Willowbrook coach Vic Wisner. "We've just got to find a way to put pressure on them. Early on we were hitting it hard and then we let (McCulloch) dictate the game. That's been our year so far. We're just snakebit with 1-run losses."
After Zack Jones struck out 13 in a 2-hitter on Friday, McCulloch showed Saturday that the Mustangs will have a solid 1-2 pitching punch for the upcoming playoffs. Downers South, a regional host, is the fifth seed in the Class 4A Oswego sectional.
"It was just a good win for us," said Mustangs coach Darren Orel. "Those two lefties, we need them to be successful. We need games like that out of them moving forward into the playoffs."
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