Lisle starts with a bang

Lisle baseball coach Pete Meyer stressed in his team’s postgame meeting after Thursday afternoon’s 9-0 opening-day win over visiting Walther Lutheran that the Lions have a lot of baseball ahead of them. He also said his team needs to improve as the season progresses.

He congratulated his team, though, on a very strong start.

“I was impressed with that I saw. We could see Walther Lutheran again in our sectional. I think 9-0 isn’t indicative of their team,” he said.

The Broncos finished second in Class 2A last season.

The winning run scored in the second inning. Ty Howell blasted a 0-1 pitch over the Walther Lutheran right fielder for his first of two doubles of the game. An error on a pickoff attempt moved him to third base, and with two out the Lions’ No. 9 hitter, Adam Grego, brought him home with a double to left.

The score remained unchanged for two innings until the Lions batted around in the fourth and broke the game open.

Howell again led off with a double, this time to left field, followed by winning pitcher Kazim Khan walking.

With one out Grego again doubled, bringing home Howell. Leadoff hitter Brian Czyl walked, loading the bases for sophomore Kevin Coppin. He sent a fastball into orbit and Lisle jumped out to a 6-0 lead. Coppin played part of last season with the varsity, but this was his first varsity home run.

“It just felt great. I was a little surprised I hit it at first. My hands were out. I got good hip rotation. It was a good way to start the season,” he said.

Lisle cushioned its advantage in the fifth with a 3-run showing. A 2-run single by Jared Jayne and a sacrifice fly by Ryan Van Volkenburg did the damaged and brought home Czyl, who had singled to right; Coppin, who had walked and Nick Olson, who made his second infield hit of the contest.

Khan went four innings. He strugged in the first inning as two walks helped load the bases. But the senior got three straight outs on an infield pop-up, a strikeout and groundout.

“Kazim had trouble getting the ball down, but he settled in and did a nice job. Jared (Jayne) did a nice job too,” Meyer said.

Khan struck out five and Jayne allowed just one hit over three innings and struck out one.

The Lions are starting the season with a five-game homestand. The team returns to action against Chicago Christian at 4:30 p.m. Friday.