Wheaton Warrenville South 6, Glenbard East 5
It's amazing what one swing of a bat can do for a baseball team.
Wheaton Warrenville South senior Nick Egan's game-tying grand slam in the top of the sixth inning took about a half second to scream over the right-field fence, but the impact lived on well after the game was over.
When Tigers teammate Tom Marsh singled home Mike Olp with the winning run in the top of the seventh, it provided the Tigers a thrilling 6-5 come-from-behind victory over Glenbard East Monday in Lombard.
Overcoming 9 errors, 3 unearned runs and a 5-0 deficit, WW South (2-5, 1-0) found a way to start the DuPage Valley Conference slate in style.
"It was a lot of fun," said Egan (1-2), who also pitched 2 scoreless innings of relief to earn the win. "We're going to try and turn things around here. We had a bad pre-season, but we'll be all right."
Glenbard East (2-5, 1-0) appeared in control through five innings.
Steve Dujka's first-inning solo home run and a flurry of errors helped the Rams to a 3-0 second-inning lead.
Jason Callahan's RBI groundout helped provide the margin. Three more errors in the bottom of the fifth led to 2 unearned runs and a 5-0 lead for Rams starter Billy Buchdahl (0-1).
After five scoreless innings, though, WW South finally broke through in the sixth. Nick Brown opened the scoring with an RBI double that narrowed the gap to 5-1.
A walk and a single loaded the bases for Egan, who slammed the no-doubt, line-drive homer that tied the game 5-5.
"Billy threw 104 pitches that were phenomenal," said Rams coach Nick Scipione. "It was one pitch that did him in, and it was that grand slam. It's a disappointing finish, but there were a lot of positives."
WW South tallied the winning run with a two-out, seventh-inning rally. Olp tripled and Marsh slipped the first pitch he saw into right field for a 6-5 lead.
The Rams loaded the bases on a hit batter and 2 errors in the bottom of the seventh, but Egan kept his cool and got a flyout to end the game.
Ariel Rodriguez went 3-for-4 for the Tigers, while Brown and starting pitcher Dustin Quattrocchi each had 2 hits. Dujka had a pair of hits for the Rams.
"Egan's swing epitomized just letting it all out," said Tigers coach Tim Brylka. "We've been so frustrated these first six games. It's been building up, and that hit was the perfect stress reliever."