Lisle ends slump at St. Edward's expense

Lisle shortstop Jay Osika wanted to help his team break its hitting slump.

Osika said the last four games, the Lions' have not hit the ball the way they wanted to.

Osika jumped started Lisle with a triple to lead off the game, scored a batter later and the Lions never trailed St. Edward in winning the Class 2A Aurora Christian baseball regional title 8-6 at Waubonsee Community College on Saturday.

The title is the third straight for Lisle (15-13).

"We started hitting the ball after that," said Osika, who went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI. "Before that, in the last four games we've been in kind of a slump. We were able to break out of that."

Lisle used the wind to crank out 3 triples against St. Edward (8-13) after hitting just 5 all season. Starting pitcher Jon Kolosky hit the other 2 triples and scored both times as Lisle took a 7-1 advantage into the top of the fourth.

That's when things got interesting for the Green Wave.

St. Edward nearly kept its Cinderella season alive cranking out 5 runs off 7 hits in the final 4 innings.

"We never gave up," St. Edward catcher Kyle Horn said. "We kept our heads up, we kept each other moving. We definitely could have closed the gap earlier."

The Green Wave nearly closed the gap late. Center fielder Jordan Jayne robbed Green Wave left fielder Jordan Torres of a double to lead off the seventh inning. Riley Coleman smacked a single a batter later, which would have scored Torres from second.

Instead, Coleman was stranded on first as Jon Surber picked up his second save of the season striking out the final two batters to end the game.

St. Edward stranded 8 runners, including 6 in scoring position.

"We left a bunch of people on in those middle innings," St. Edward coach Gene Belmonte said. We were a base hit away from opening this up."

Lisle always seemed to find that hit.

Jayne and Ryne McGovern singled to lead off the second and scored on Osika's 2-run single. The duo and Billy Potter all reached base to open the third, with all three scoring. Kolosky tripled to open the fourth and scored on Potter's RBI single.

"We were making good contact," Lisle coach Pete Meyer said. "We were fortunate to hit the gaps. The guys had a good approach."

Osika (1-3) picked up the win for Lisle going 2¿ innings and giving up 1 earned run and 4 hits. Mike Kondrath (2-3) took the loss for the Green Wave allowing 6 earned runs and 9 hits in 3 innings.