Baseball: Glenbard West drops West Chicago
Once Glenbard West got started, the Hilltoppers proved very hard to stop.
The Hilltoppers rallied in a big way from an early deficit, defeating West Chicago 13-3 in six innings in a Class 4A Glenbard West regional quarterfinal baseball game Monday at Village Green in Glen Ellyn.
"We didn't feel much pressure," said Glenbard West senior center fielder Zach Lutz, who reached base all four at-bats, scored 3 runs and drove in 1. "There's been a lot of times this year where we've gotten kind of down early and we kind of lost our mentality for the rest of the game. But I think today we just held a positive attitude the whole time and just knew we could come back and get some runs across the board."
West Chicago got off to a good start when designated hitter Mike Sawicki drove in shortstop Matt Dall and starting pitcher Garrett Hosticka with a 2-run double to right center in the top of the first inning. When right-fielder Keaton Lauro scored on Dall's double to left field, the Wildcats (8-23) had a 3-1 lead in the second inning.
They couldn't keep the momentum going, however. Glenbard West pitcher Justin O'Neal (4-5) allowed the Wildcats just one third-inning hit the rest of the way.
"He had a great outing last Monday against Hinsdale Central, really pitched his best game of the year," Hilltoppers coach Andy Schultz said of O'Neal. "His stuff today wasn't as good, but he grinded. After he got through those first couple of innings and we gave him a little bit of a run, I think he relaxed a little bit, after we scored a few runs."
The Hilltoppers hitters came to life in the bottom of the third inning, scoring four times to take a 5-3 lead. Sophomore Jack Campanella's bases-loaded single to center drove in Arno Curtis and Sam Kaske to give the Hilltoppers the lead for good, and D.J. Ficarella followed, scoring on a balk.
"From that point the guys were like, let's just add and add and add," Schultz said. "Good at-bats up and down the lineup today, and we're going to need those on Wednesday."
The Hilltoppers (15-19) made it 7-3 in the fourth when junior Kevin Spencer tripled to the 360 sign in right center to drive in Lutz, then scored on senior Matt Shoub's sacrifice fly to right.
"They hit the ball real well," said West Chicago coach Dan McCarthy, in his last game before retiring after 40 years in education. "They do a real good job of taking the ball the opposite way. They exploited one of our biggest deficiencies all year. We don't field the ball real well."
Glenbard West took advantage of some West Chicago defensive lapses to add four more runs in the fifth inning. Ficarella and Campanella scored on senior R.J. Paul's single to left and junior Cole Brady followed them home on an error on the play. Paul scored on Lutz's RBI single.
Glenbard West ended the game when Shoub and Curtis scored with one out in the sixth.
The Hilltoppers, seeded 13th, will host Glenbard East, the No. 2 seed in the Schaumburg sectional, at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday in a regional semifinal.
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