Baseball: Bartlett gets past West Chicago
Like so many area baseball teams, Bartlett is in the throes of a 5-game week due to the backlog of makeup games from recent rains.
That's why the Hawks needed innings out of starting pitcher Brandon Kendall in Tuesday's 9-6 Upstate Eight Valley victory over 1-win West Chicago even though the third-year varsity performer was the first to admit he didn't have his best stuff.
Pitching on a warm day with a steady wind blowing straight out to center, the Bartlett right-hander allowed 3 first-inning earned runs but was able to minimize the damage from a fourth-inning, bases-loaded situation with an inning-ending strikeout.
Kendall's final pitching line demonstrated how wildly effective he was. In 4 innings he allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 5 hits, issued 4 walks and hit 2 batsman in the fourth inning, the second of which forced in West Chicago's fourth run. He also struck out 9 Wildcats.
Kendall (2-2) left trailing 4-2 but was rewarded with the victory when Bartlett (5-6, 1-2) scored 7 runs in the bottom of the fourth and went on to win. His best pitch was a sharp curve that kept West Chicago (1-9, 0-3) off-balance throughout Game 1 of the 3-game series.
"It was hard finding the strike zone, but I felt like my curveball was working so I just stuck with it," Kendall said.
"Their guy battled through," said West Chicago coach TJ Nall, whose team stranded 12 baserunners. "We had our opportunities. We just couldn't get that big hit to break through."
While the Wildcats struggled to deliver the big hit, Bartlett senior Martin Moreno supplied two of them in the same inning. With his team trailing 4-2, he led off the bottom of the fourth against West Chicago left-hander Matt Natzke (0-3) with a solo home run to straightaway center that cleared the fence by 10 feet.
Moreno's home run ignited a big inning for Bartlett (5-6, 1-2), which included a go-ahead, 2-run, opposite-field double by right-handed cleanup hitter Frank Novello.
"He gave me an outside fastball," Novello said. "I was working with coach. He wanted me to try to start going oppo on pitches that I could take because I was taking a lot outside."
Moreno later capped the 7-run outburst with a 2-run double to right center. A baseball player since he was 4-years-old, said it was the first time he ever had 2 hits in the same inning, let alone a home run and a double.
"The pitcher threw a fastball chest high," Moreno said of his longball swing. "I was just trying to go to right center with it to start off an inning. We were down two. I got that good pitch, hit the barrel and it just went."
West Chicago managed 11 hits and drew 5 walks in the loss. Michael Sawicki hit a 2-run home run in the fifth inning off reliever Michael Sharko to make it a 9-6 game. Sawicki finished 1-for-2 with 3 RBI, Billy Lietzow (RBI) went 3-for-5 and Chris Bangert went 1-for-2 with a double.
The series resumes Wednesday at West Chicago.