Waubonsie Valley cools off red-hot St. Charles East
When stressing to his players the importance of winning at home, Waubonsie Valley coach Dan Fezzuoglio instructed them to look no further than the team in the opposing dugout Friday, St. Charles East.
The Warriors did just what Fezzuoglio wanted, defending their home field with a 14-hit attack that carried them to a 14-4 win. Waubonsie Valley took control with an 8-run second inning and ended the game on a 2-run single by winning pitcher Sean Smith in the bottom of the fifth.
The Warriors (3-3, 1-1) avoided an 0-2 start in conference by playing as well as St. Charles East (7-2, 1-1) did in a 3-1 win Thursday in St. Charles.
"One thing St. Charles East does very well is play at home," Fezzuoglio said. "I don't know how many years I've gone up there and lost by one or two runs. I cannot remember us or other teams going up there and handing it to them. That's what I told them, 'Guys, they do a great job of playing well in their own park. We have to do that.' And we did that today."
After St. Charles East left-hander Wes Benjamin held the Warriors to 3 hits Thursday, the Warriors jumped on another southpaw, Tom Konrad (1-1).
Saints center fielder Robert Wendt raced to deep center for a catch that left two runners stranded in the first. Waubonsie Valley catcher Eric Josupait, who also threw out a pair of would-be base stealers, doubled to open the second inning.
Kyle Limanowski followed with the first of his two bunt singles, and Smith walked to load the bases. Kris Singh drove in a run with a single, Eric Sousanes doubled in two more, Jeff Brown singled home two runs and Sam Carius ended Konrad's day with an RBI single.
Limanowski capped his 2-hit inning with a 2-run single that put the Warriors up 8-0.
"To come back like this, to take BP, come out like we did, to get 14 runs is excellent," said Sousanes, the Warriors' leadoff hitter who drove in 4 runs.
Carious and Limanowski both had 3 hits, and Josupait and Sousanes added 2 each. Eight of the Warriors starters had at least 1 hit.
Smith (2-1) made the most of the support, allowing 7 hits and 3 earned runs in 5 innings. He had 2 strikeouts in the first game that Fezzuoglio called his pitches instead of his catcher.
"I've got to credit him for calling good pitches in the right situations," Smith said. "We started something new today. It worked out pretty well."
Waubonsie Valley plated four runs in the fourth inning and two in the fifth, turning in the complete effort that had been missing.
"The first couple games we were there but we would just lose it," Sousanes said. "In this game we finished."
It was a big win for Waubonsie Valley, the preseason No. 2 team in the Daily Herald Top 20 who entered at 2-3.
"The good thing about these guys is they are very resilient," Fezzuoglio said. "They don't quit. As we said on the bus yesterday, we know what we are capable of. This was a good one to get some momentum going."
"We just have to get on a roll like we did in the summer," said Smith, part of a senior class that has made the summer state tournament twice. "We know what it takes, we know we have it in us. We just have to bring it every day."
That was just what St. Charles East learned in the worst game it has played this year. The Saints' only other loss, 9-0 to Fremd, was a 2-0 game in the sixth inning.
"It started early, we didn't know our bunt coverages," Saints coach Dave Haskins said. "We addressed it.
"We didn't come mentally prepared. We made a ton of mental mistakes. You have to come prepared every day, mentally is more important than physically. It's a learning experience. I'm glad it is early in the season and we can learn from it."
The Saints scored all three of their runs in the fourth. Ryan O'Dell doubled and scored on Tony Rallo's opposite-field single. Wendt walked, and designated hitter Luke Rojas delivered a two-out, two-strike, two-run double.
Despite the loss it has been a great start for the Saints in the first year under Haskins.
"I think last year we were 2-6. To come in here 7-1 is great," O'Dell said. "Mostly the mentality of the guys on the team has changed. We come into games focused, we're confident, not overconfident. We have a good coaching staff, our pitchers are focused. I think we are all playing team baseball."
St. Charles East will try to rebound against Schaumburg on Saturday.
"Good teams are measured by how they bounce back from games like this," O'Dell said. "Tomorrow is a new day. We are going to come back focused."