Mustangs pound WW South
You'd have a tough time convincing Downers Grove South the pitching's ahead of the hitting right now.
That's the typical early-season baseball belief, but the Mustangs flew in the face of it again with Tuesday's 13-3 five-inning nonconference victory over visiting Wheaton Warrenville South.
Downers South (2-1), which struck for 8 runs in its season opener, took advantage of most of its 16 hits against the Tigers. All nine starters got a piece of the offense, some of which was wind-aided. Two late-game replacements also had hits.
"Up and down the lineup, everybody can hit consistently," said Mustangs senior third baseman Anthony Fiorenzi, who went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI. "We hit the ball hard and put the ball in play."
Playing its first game of the season, WW South jumped ahead with 2 runs in the top of the first off winning pitcher Mike Wido (1-0). Nick Novosad and losing pitcher Nick Brown both reached on infield singles, setting up Mike Olp's 2-run triple.
Fiorenzi's RBI double sliced the deficit in the bottom of the first. Dan Walsh had a run-scoring single and Chandler Whitmer added a 2-run single to give Downers South the lead for good at 4-2 in the second inning.
The Tigers managed only 3 hits off Wido, who struck out six and scattered 6 hits, in the final four innings.
"It felt good to get out and play," said first-year WW South coach Tim Brylka. "It's kind of what we expected, still some of those question marks we thought we'd have going into it. A lot of room for improvement, so we'll keep working."
Downers South busted open the game with a 5-run fourth inning. Sean Enright's 2-run single sparked the burst off Iowa-bound Brown, who was the winning pitcher for the Tigers in last year's sectional final victory over the Mustangs.
Nick Egan's RBI double pulled WW South within 9-3 in the top of the fifth, but the game ended in the bottom of the inning when Downers South scored 4 runs. Wido's two-out, 2-run single put the Mustangs ahead 13-3.
Joey White, Walsh and Whitmer each had 2 hits for Downers South.
"We've got to clean up the consistency, but we're a team that can hit," said first-year Mustangs coach Darren Orel. "We were fortunate today because Brown is excellent. He's the tops. We had a good number of quality at-bats against a good pitcher, so I'm proud of them for that."
-- Kevin Schmit
Benet 13, Downers North 0:ŒBryan Roberts allowed no hits and struck out 10 in 4 innings as the Redwings opened the season with a six-inning road victory. Benet broke out to a 7-0 first-inning lead, then added a 6-run sixth behind Mike Vanchieri's 3-run homer.
Naperville North 1, Glenbard South 0:ŒJake Naumann (1-1) pitched a 2-hitter for the host Huskies (3-1) in their nonconference win. Naperville North scored its run in the second inning when Mike Nodzenski led off with a double. Courtesy runner Jon LaScala later scored on Derek Locascio's fielder's choice. Andy Manson (0-1) allowed only 3 hits while taking the loss for the Raiders (1-2).
Glenbard East 11, Willowbrook 2:ŒRandy Baukovac tripled, homered and drove in 4 runs for the visiting Rams (1-1) in their nonconference win. Bill Buchdahl (1-0) was the complete-game winner. Chris Savas and Dean Whiteside drove in runs for Willowbrook (2-1).
St. Francis 6, Lisle 4:ŒAfter Lisle (1-1) scored the tying run in the bottom of the seventh, the Spartans (1-0) tallied the winning runs in the top of the eighth inning in the nonconference game. Kenny Schatz drew a bases-loaded walk to break the tie. Mike Pugliese put the Spartans ahead 6-4 with an RBI single. Andrew Zettinger earned the win for St. Francis. Jon Surber homered for Lisle.
Neuqua Valley 18, Plainfield South 10:ŒThe visiting Wildcats opened the season with an 11-run third inning to power their way to the nonconference win. Chris Kruppe notched the victory in relief of Jason David. Travis Weldon homered.
Driscoll 19, Chicago Christian 3:ŒRick Divito, Adam Davis and Kyle Sanders homered for the visiting Highlanders (2-0) in the five-inning nonconference win. Winning pitcher Corey Eisenmann (1-0) allowed 2 hits in 3 innings.
Softball
Glenbard South 1, Wheaton North 0:ŒJill Trzaska fired a no-hitter and recorded 16 strikeouts in pitching her second shutout of the season in as many decisions. The Raiders (3-0) scored in the bottom of the first inning when Jess Fijolek tripled and scored on Trzaska's single.
Naperville North 12, Oswego 2:ŒLauren Clouston went 4 for 4 with a double, triple and 4 RBI to spark the Huskies to a season-opening win. Winning pitcher Layne Engel finished with a 5-hitter and 8 strikeouts.
York 6, Benet 3:ŒCharlene Osmanski doubled and knocked in 2 runs for the Dukes (2-0) in their win. Amelia Kaderabek earned the victory.
Resurrection 9, Lisle 0:ŒHana Somogyi threw a no-hitter, notched 15 strikeouts and hit a 2-run homer to lead highly regarded Resurrection past the Lions in their first game.
Lockport 2, Downers South 0:ŒLockport (3-0) pushed across an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth and another in the sixth to spoil the season debut for the Mustangs.