Marmion jumps on Montini early, then holds on

In order to bounce back from a 2-game losing streak, Marmion wanted to strike early and often Wednesday against visiting Montini.

The Cadets got the early part done, and that wound up being enough.

Catcher Bobby Winkel stroked a 2-run double to highlight Marmion's 5-run first inning, which was the deciding factor in its 7-5 victory.

"It helped us out because lately we haven't been getting on teams early," Winkel said. "We wanted to get on them early this game because we knew they were a good team."

Montini (6-2, 1-1) lost for the first time in the Suburban Catholic while Marmion (6-2, 2-1) rebounded from losses to Driscoll and Naperville North.

Montini's Kevin Hankins singled to lead off the game, then Jared Jayne doubled him home. Marmion starter Mark Peters (1-0) quickly settled down and stranded Jayne at third.

In the bottom of the first, Dave DeSimone got the Cadets rolling with a leadoff triple. David Brouch had an RBI single, C.J. Foster gave the Cadets the lead for good at 2-1 with an RBI double, then Winkel's 2-run double made it 4-1. No. 9 hitter Chris Tydd capped the 5-run first with an RBI single.

"We were patient in the first inning, got the count in our favor quite a bit and it paid off for us," Marmion coach Dave Rakow said. "We weren't hitting into counts late in the game. We were swinging at a lot of first pitches, popping them up, and it hurt us."

Peters didn't give up a hit or walk in the next two innings, but with three games this weekend Rakow didn't want to push his starter past three innings. Peters ended up with 3 strikeouts, 0 walks, 1 run and 2 hits in those 3 innings.

"He throws pretty hard," Winkel said. "His fastball is nice, it tails a lot, and it's hard with a lefty throwing that hard because a lot of guys aren't used to lefties at this age."

Peters (2-1) looked like a different pitcher than the one who walked 6 batters in 4 innings last week against Driscoll.

"The fact he threw strikes was encouraging," Rakow said.

Marmion built a 7-2 lead on another Foster RBI hit and Zack Young's run-scoring single.

The Broncos didn't go quietly in the sixth. Hankins drove in a run with a single, then a 2-run single by Jayne cut Marmion's lead to 7-5. A wild pitch put the tying runs in scoring position before Will Sterne - making his first appearance of the year - came in to strike out Montini's No. 3 hitter and leave the runners stranded.

Sterne, who had shoulder soreness earlier this year, also pitched a scoreless seventh for the save.

"He's got ice water in his veins," Rakow said. "It's encouraging to have another arm to use."

Jayne led Montini with 3 hits and 3 RBI. Like the Cadets, the Broncos used three pitchers, with Sean Keeley taking the loss to fall to 1-1. Five errors didn't help any of the Montini pitchers.

"I liked the way we came back but the little things hurt us today," Montini coach Bill Leeberg said. "They (Marmion) came out there and really exploded."

Winkel, Foster and Young all had 2 hits to pace Marmion's 9-hit attack. The Cadets also stole 3 bases, led by Matt Milroy's 2.

"We've been trying to be aggressive on the bases," Rakow said. "We have confidence in our kids. We'll take a base if it's there."