Willowbrook uses bats, gloves, brooms
Willowbrook's Peter Bonner had 4 hits and drove in 6 runs during Saturday's doubleheader baseball sweep of Addison Trail.
His coolest play, however, may have come in the field.
In Game 2 the senior first baseman dove and caught a short pop up, and while on the ground he flipped the ball to pitcher Alex Gasiamis for a double play at first base.
On a day when 43 runs scored, the fine defense definitely came in handy.
After winning a 17-12 slugfest in the opener, Willowbrook won the second game 12-2 in six innings to claim both ends of the West Suburban Gold doubleheader in Villa Park.
While the Warriors (6-2, 2-1) clearly thrived at the plate, Gasiamis (1-0) also put in fine work on the mound. He notched the save in the opener with 2 scoreless innings of relief and then went the distance in Game 2.
"Alex just came in and got the job done," said Warriors coach Steve Gilliam. "He's been a great surprise this year. To go out there and hold them down, he did an awesome job."
Most of the day, though, belonged to Willowbrook's bats. In Game 1 the Warriors trailed 12-10 until they struck for 5 two-out runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Bonner's 2-run homer and Brian Hennig's RBI double were the big hits.
Bonner added 2 doubles. Chris Savas went 3-for-4 with a double, triple and 3 RBI. Kevin Babica went 3-for-4 with 4 RBI for Addison Trail (0-9, 0-4).
"I just went up, cleared my head and waited for something to come down the middle," Bonner said. "We've been kind of struggling a little bit and we've been wanting to break out of our shell. Everyone just started clicking at the plate."
After Addison Trail committed 4 errors and allowed 9 unearned runs in the first game, two more errors opened the door for Willowbrook to score 3 unearned runs to start Game 2.
A 5-run bottom of the sixth inning put the Warriors' lead at 12-2 and ended the game. Jordan Grevis, who drove in 3 runs, had a 2-run single. Dave McKendrick ended the game with a two-out RBI double.
"Until we can play consistent defense and execute in crucial situations, we'll struggle," said Blazers coach Paul Parpet, who started six sophomores. "We're going through some growing pains. We're close, but we can't be making those types of mistakes against the competition we play."