Welter, Drish lead day full of web gems
Now there's a coach who knows what his players can do.
Batavia coach Matt Holm handed out a pair of golden gloves recently, and did his two choices ever make him look good Thursday.
Left fielder Tim Drish and catcher Ryan Welter won those awards, and both showed a huge Batavia crowd why during the Bulldogs' 7-2 win over Wheaton Warrenville South in the Class 4A St. Charles North sectional semifinal.
Welter gunned down two would-be basestealers. Drish followed Welter's second caught stealing by throwing out a Tiger trying to stretch a single into a double.
At the time Batavia trailed 2-0, but those web gems helped keep the deficit at 2 while swinging momentum to the Batavia dugout.
"They came up big for us defensively," Holm said.
Welter set the tone, throwing out a runner to end what had been a shaky first inning for the Bulldogs, then catching another runner in the third.
WW South entered the game with 43 steals in 49 attempts, and Welter was ready.
"That has been my goal all year is to make sure no one runs on me," Welter said. "I came into this game knowing they had a lot of fast guys on that team. I talked to (second baseman) Joe Aguliar that if they try to run we're going to get them. I got excited when I saw them running."
Welter set his goals high this year, telling Holm before the season he "wasn't going to give up double digits (steals)."
He hasn't, just six now in 35 games after the Tigers went 1 for 3 stealing Thursday - and that one Welter fired a throw that beat the runner.
Welter and Drish weren't the only good defensive players. Brian Krolikowski scooped a throw in the dirt for a key out at first. Aguliar made a sensational diving catch to rob WW South's No. 3 hitter Mike Olp of a 4-for-4 day.
"We keep track of our web gems, those count as web gems," Holm said of Welter's throws. "We talk a lot about our offense and pitching but our defense has been fantastic too."
Both Drish and Welter have been huge keys to Batavia's 29-6 season.
Not only did they shine defensively, Drish sparked the 5-run fourth with a leadoff walk, then hit his ninth home run in the fifth.
"It seems like he always comes through in the clutch," said Welter, who went 2-for-2 with a sacrifice fly.
"That is what we need from our 3 hitter. He's a smart baserunner, he's one of the smartest guys I've seen at the plate this year. You give him a pitch to hit he's going to do something with it."
Drish has been on some kind of roll the last three weeks, hitting all 9 of his home runs in that red-hot stretch. He now has 2 homers in 3 playoff games.
"Absolutely fantastic," Holm said. "The home runs started kind of late. The last 8 games of the season he put on clinic."
Drish credited the team's trainer they worked with all winter and in the offseason, Chris Browning of Pro Force Training.
"He's helped out tremendously," Drish said. "We wouldn't have been able to paly all these games without that stamina."
Drish is one of the eight senior starters, at least five or six of whom will keep playing in college next year. Drish is headed to Joliet Junior College - which could be an especially fitting location.
Two more wins for the Battlin' Bulldogs and Drish will play his college baseball in the same town his high school career ends.
jlemon@dailyherald.com