Baseball: Glenbard West hangs tough, beats Addison Trail
It was a sequence that on another day might have sent Glenbard West's ballclub reeling.
In the top of the first inning, Addison Trail had runners on first and third with two outs. Hilltoppers pitcher Kolin Kennebeck appeared to escape the jam by coaxing a high pop foul ... which was dropped.
Instead of falling apart Kennebeck retired the batter, and the side, on a groundout from shortstop Jack Campanella to first baseman Grant Lalla.
Looking nothing like a sub-.500 team, Glenbard West then played flawless defense and turned on the bats to beat the Blazers 8-2 in the West Suburban Conference crossover Saturday in Glen Ellyn.
"I believe it was the pivotal play," said Kennebeck, a reliever drafted to start after Glenbard West (6-12) played six games this week.
"So far this year if an error occurs it kind of goes downhill from there, which has been the trend so far," said Kennebeck (1-2). "Today I just kind of kept my head up and stayed positive and we got the out, and that was good."
It got better for the Hilltoppers in the bottom half of the first. Campanella led off with a walk, moved to second on the first of D.J. Ficarella's 2 bunt hits, and gave Glenbard West a 1-0 lead on Sam Kaske's hard bouncer through the infield.
"They hit the ball real well, they were able to move runners around, they executed what they needed to today. Ultimately what it comes down to is that they pitched well," said Addison Trail assistant coach Nick Pingel, subbing for head coach Mike Kennedy after the birth of his second child, Michael David Kennedy III, on Friday.
Glenbard West scored 6 runs in the third inning, all unearned against Addison Trail starting pitcher Andrew Parnell (1-1). Campanella reached on an error, Ficarella pushed another bunt single, but the Blazers (8-6) turned a sharp 4-6-3 double play - Jack Kalbas to Michael Scali to Trevor Fulmer - to force Ficarella.
The Hilltoppers answered with six straight hits, including run-scoring doubles from Lalla, Cole Brady and sophomore catcher David Dillman.
"We were just jumping on the fastballs," said Lalla, one of five Hilltoppers with at least 2 hits. "Again, (we've been) struggling a little bit offensively, but today was a good day for us, everyone just started hitting."
The Blazers touched Kennebeck for a run in the fourth on Fulmer's RBI single and made it 8-2 in the sixth on Biondo's single to score George Neri.
By then Kennebeck had retired after 79 pitches - "uncharted territory," Hilltoppers coach Andy Schultz said - to enjoy the rest of the game in what was a loose dugout.
"We've had a tough week here with some not very good baseball and we've played every day," Schultz said. "So to just kind of have that mindset - let's just go have fun - that was good to see. I'm hoping we can continue that."