Slussar, Wildcats enjoy the perks of success

Winning is leaving a nice taste in the mouths of Wheeling's baseball team.

On Tuesday, the Wildcats enjoyed the spoils of a 6-5 victory over Buffalo Grove with an impromptu postgame pizza outing at Barnaby's courtesy of coach Mike Tice.

"It was definitely a treat," said Wheeling senior right-hander Steve Slussar after his second Mid-Suburban League complete-game win.

Slussar's wins over Hersey and the Bison are 1 more than Wheeling had in 16 MSL games a year ago.

And avenging 5-inning routs of 28-4 and 16-6 last year to the Bison was also a real treat for the Wildcats.

"It was definitely very, very nice beating them," Slussar said. "A lot of us on the team had something to prove … and we pulled it off."

Slussar, an all-conference pick last year, is off to a strong start. He had 9 strikeouts in each of his MSL East wins.

Slussar allowed only 3 hits against Hersey and pitched around 8 walks. He gave up 9 hits and only 2 walks to BG.

"His control wasn't terrible (against Hersey) and they did a great job of fouling off pitches," Tice said of most of Slussar's walks coming with 2 outs. "He's looked really sharp. (Pitching coach Brian) Jamieson has done a nice job calling the game with him and Case (catcher Jackson)."

Slussar said his curve and changeup have improved significantly with offseason work and he's throwing harder. Slussar, who is ranked in the top 30 in his class with a 31 ACT, is also benefiting from an improved defense.

"I've been focusing a lot more in pregame to make sure I really have a good game plan," said Slussar, who has been accepted to Indiana to study business but is interested in continuing to play in college. "The pitches the coaches are calling for me are working good against the other teams."

Slussar has also been doing the job with the bat with homers against Prospect and BG. But the Wildcats' offense has come out firing in its first three MSL games.

They had first innings of 3 runs against Hersey, five in a 16-9 loss to Prospect and four against BG. Senior leadoff man Anthony Ricciardi has provided a big spark.

"Each game he's 3-2, fouled off a couple of extra pitches and hit the ball hard," Tice said. "It kind of gives everybody (the feeling) we can hit their guy."

Tony Brzezniak has been solid in the second spot and Slussar hit his homers at No. 3 when shortstop Matt Holmes missed two games with a hip flexor injury.

Bobby Beelen, Case and Sayer Jackson, Justin Christell and sophomore Steve Yfantis have also boosted an offense that was held to 3 runs or less 17 times last season.

"Right now they're working really hard at following the hitting plan," Tice said of his players benefiting from new batting cages at the school. "They're trying to hit line drives and really battling. They're really doing a nice job at the plate."

The Wildcats also got good news as Beelen, a junior lefty battling arm trouble, was cleared this week to play first base. It's another boost to a much-improved demeanor around the team.

"The team attitude is a lot better than last year," Slussar said. "We definitely knew we could surprise some people.

"We have a lot more confidence, especially after the first inning with Hersey."

It was evident in the last inning with BG. With runners at second and third and two outs, a grounder went through Beelen's legs at first.

But Brzezniak hustled over from second base and fired to Slussar covering first on a bang-bang play.

"After all the bad breaks we've had," Tice said, "that one certainly went our way."

On the prowl: A little offense and a lot of defense could go a long way for a Conant team stocked with pitching.

Junior Derek Wojcik, the Cougars' No. 4 starter behind Austin Wright, Chris Hoffman and Walt Wijas, showed the Cougars' depth by pitching 6多 shutout innings Tuesday against Palatine.

"If we make the plays and start swinging the bats like I know we're capable of," said Conant coach Jerry Song, "we'll definitely be tough."

Conant backed Wojcik with errorless defense. Junior catcher Mario Morrone threw out a runner trying to steal second and second baseman Bobby Colucci made a nice read on a first-and-third play to nail a runner at the plate.

And third baseman Jeff Vercillo not only wisely held the ball on an infield hit in the fifth inning but alertly nailed the runner who slipped after overrunning third.

Senior shortstop Bill Charvat has helped solidify the infield defense.

"We should do some damage in the playoffs," Vercillo said. "It helps the pitchers tremendously knowing the defense will back them up.

"I feel our defense is confident and will be able to make plays."

And Conant got a lesson Monday when some mistakes led to a 7-5 loss to Fremd.

"You can't take anyone lightly in this league," Wojcik said. "We've got to come ready to play every game and get the bats going."

The Cougars get a rematch of the first sectional semifinal win in their history last season when they travel to Schaumburg at 4:30 p.m. today.

Finally, some luck: There have been times the last two seasons where Barrington senior righty Ryan Nolan probably felt he had to pitch like Nolan Ryan to win.

Nolan definitely didn't have the luck of the draw in the Broncos' MSL opener when he faced Conant lefty Austin Wright.

"Nolan did a great job," Barrington coach Jim Hawrysko said after he allowed only 1 run the first 5 innings.

But Barrington could manage only catcher Jack Golek's sixth-inning single off Wright in a 5-0 loss.

And Nolan also seemed to be wearing a target.

Against Cary-Grove, the kid who headed in the state championship-winning goal for the soccer team had a one-hopper carom off the side of his head. At least it went right to first baseman Gus Handler for an out.

And he stayed in the Conant game after getting hit with a liner for a single.

"He pitches his heart out every time he goes on the mound," Golek said. "He's the most competitive kid on the team, without a doubt.

"We can't seem to get him any runs."

That changed Monday as Nolan had 11 strikeouts in 5多 innings as Barrington beat Palatine 9-5. Tim Conroy came in and got the save.

And Golek was confident in a turnaround even though Barrington was mired in a 6-game losing streak before beating Palatine.

"We actually played pretty well," Golek said of the loss to Conant. "Our defense has been solid all year and our pitching has been pretty good.

"Our bats slowed down a little bit but we had pretty good at-bats (off Wright)."

Righting the ship: One error seems to be followed by another. One hit doesn't seem to be followed by another.

It sums up a 2-12 start for the Pirates after a Wednesday loss to Schaumburg.

"That's our year in a nutshell," Palatine coach Paul Belo said of a 5-run Conant third fueled by 3 errors Tuesday. "You can take that third inning and supplant it into any of our games."

Belo has tried juggling his lineup and moved Eastern Kentucky-bound Jeff Emerich from center to right field and into the No. 8 spot in the order to see more fastballs Tuesday.

But he did see what he expects from senior righty Steve Reis, who is pitching through elbow pain that doctors said can't get any worse.

Reis allowed only 2 earned runs in 5 innings.

"Steve's going to compete every time he gets the ball," Belo said. "He'll keep us in the ballgame and it was kind of textbook Steve. That's what he gives us day in and day out."

Pitching in: Buffalo Grove seniors Tom Moran pitched only 27½ innings and Seth Parker didn't pitch at all on last season's Class AA Elite Eight qualifier.

But Moran nearly had his second MSL win and Parker a save in what turned out to be BG's 7-6 loss in 8 innings at Rolling Meadows on Monday.

Moran, who beat Elk Grove 6-1 in his first MSL start, left the Meadows game with a 5-4 lead after battling through 5多 innings. Parker, a lanky 6-foot-6 righty, left the tying run at second in sixth but gave up 2 unearned runs in the seventh and had another error lead to the winning run.

"Confidence and maturity and he's worked hard," BG coach John Wendell said of the difference in Moran. "He knew this year was his time and a big thing is confidence.

"And Parker's going to be OK. But we've got to pick up the ball. If we don't pick up the ball we're going to be in trouble."

Looking better: Valparaiso-bound righty Kyle Gaedele allowed 3 earned runs and 6 hits with 6 strikeouts and 2 walks in 6 innings Monday for Meadows.

"When Kyle can throw his slider for a strike it's a big difference," said Meadows coach Jim Lindeman. "When he can't he turns into a one-pitch pitcher.

"This was a step in the right direction for him. And he's seeing the ball well at the plate and doing what we need him to do."

Same old story: A Leyden player said "Coach, we can't even take this anymore" to coach Gary Wolf after a 4-3 win over Addison Trail on Tuesday on Joe Natale's 2-run double in the bottom of the seventh.

But the Eagles took their 12th victory by a run in the last two seasons. After starter Josh Serrano had 6 strikeouts in 4多 innings, ace Jonathan Weaver came in and got all 7 of his outs on strikes for the victory.

"He was bringing it," Wolf said.