West Chicago 6, Wheaton Warrenville South 5

West Chicago's small ball became microscopic.

The Wildcats used four fifth-inning bunt singles to help score 5 runs, giving them just enough offense to hold on for Monday's 6-5 DuPage Valley Conference baseball victory over visiting Wheaton Warrenville South.

WW South (5-8, 4-3) had the tying run on second base in the top of the seventh inning, but West Chicago left fielder Rhett Gunderson made a nice diving catch and doubled up the runner at second to end the first game of their three-game series.

"This is the first time we've used that," West Chicago catcher Dave Sampiller said of the mass bunting. "We're solid when we're on. We just have to stay in it as a team and stay pumped up."

WW South and Iowa-bound starter Nick Brown (1-3) nursed a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth when the Wildcats (4-9, 2-5) put their first four batters on base. Sampiller's RBI single made it 3-2 and Gunderson's groundout tied the score.

Josh Yednock's 2-run single put West Chicago ahead 5-3 and then James Eckler's bunt single -- the team's fourth of the inning -- boosted the lead to 6-3.

Tom Marsh's sacrifice fly pulled the Tigers within 6-4 in the sixth inning. An Ariel Rodriguez seventh-inning single and an error on the play allowed Brown to score from first base and shave the margin to 6-5. Eckler, who relieved winning pitcher Aaron Kennedy (1-1), was relieved by Wildcats ace Trevor Bodie, who coaxed the game-ending double-play flyout for his first save of the season.

"We just didn't have a great focus from the start, and it's frustrating," said Tigers coach Tim Brylka, whose team's three-game winning streak was broken. "We had a little momentum going and we should have been more into the game."

A leadoff double by Marsh led to Dustin Quattrocchi's sacrifice fly and a 1-0 Tigers lead in the first inning. A dropped third strike and a throwing error allowed West Chicago to tie the game in the third inning.

WW South struck for unearned runs in the fourth and fifth innings to set up the Wildcats' comeback.

"We're not the kind of team that needs to be thinking long ball all the time," said Wildcats coach John Walters. "We've got to move people around and just try to play the game the way it's supposed to be played."