Baseball: Addison Trail's Villasenor shuts down West Chicago
Addison Trail senior pitcher Nick Villasenor was mobbed by teammates Monday after completing his third inning with a strikeout.
Villasenor was just as thankful about the bottom of the first inning.
When the Blazers opened with a 4-run burst, that set the tone for their 11-1, six-inning victory over West Chicago in the opening round of the Class 4A Addison Trail regional.
"The bats on offense helped out a lot. We're not used to getting 11 runs in a game," Villasenor said. "We're more of a 4, 5-run team. If we can get to 11 runs, we can minimize the other team's performances."
Addison Trail (13-16), the No. 12 seed of the Lake Park sectional, will host No. 5 Geneva in Thursday's regional semifinal.
This was the Blazers' first playoff victory since the 2013 regional opener and Villasenor (5-1) made it more special.
The left-hander had 11 strikeouts - including 7 of the first 11 batters - with one walk, one hit batter and four singles allowed on 104 pitchers. The No. 21 Wildcats (5-23) previously were shut out by Villasenor 3-0 March 23 in Addison.
Promoted midway through his freshman season, Villasenor will play at Black Hawk (Community) College in Moline.
"He's been outstanding and a pleasure to watch. His work's not done with us, but he definitely is a special pitcher," Addison Trail coach Mike Kennedy said. "And to get some run support. He hasn't gotten a lot, so throwing with a big lead, it's exciting."
The Blazers collected 11 hits with doubles by Simon Marinelli, A.J. Parnell, Bobby Daniels, George Neri and pinch-hitter Brayan Hidalgo.
The big excitement came with Villasenor's seventh strikeout to end the third. It was his 100th of the season - and all of the Blazers knew.
"That was nice of them to all come out and greet me like that," Villasenor said. "The team's been giving me countdowns. Since last week, they'd be like, '94, 95, 96.' I don't know if that helped or hurt me, but I got it."
Kennedy said Villasenor would not have returned for the seventh. Amazingly, his walk with two outs in the sixth was only his 11th to accompany an earned-run average around 0.80.
"He's unreal, unreal. Crazy margin (of strikeouts to walks)," senior center fielder Ricky Perez said.
"I've had a breakout season. I'm very happy with the way it all worked out," Villasenor said. "Hopefully, we get a regional title because that's all that matters at this point."
West Chicago scored in the fourth behind singles from senior Cam Taylor and junior Mike Sawicki, as well as senior Chris Bangert being hit by a pitch. All five seniors started.
"Just the feeling of losing 23 games in a season is a tough pill to swallow," first-year West Chicago coach T.J. Nall said. "There were times where we didn't quit. And that's kind of what we're trying to preach here. The game's not over until the umpire tells us to go home. As long as you have a uniform on, you have a shot."
Marinelli led off the first with his double and scored on a single by No. 3 hitter Perez. Daniels doubled and scored in third and Parnell's RBI double and Neri's 2-run double fueled the 4-run fourth. Hidalgo's RBI double in the sixth also set up Neri's sacrifice fly that ended the game.
"We've just really been off our game lately. It was good today for us, being able to see the ball," Perez said. "I've really been on my low end lately. It was great. I've been in a slump. Finally, about time (a big hit). With our fans out here it's great."