Shaky start, but strong finish for Mundelein’s Bryan Wiener

The first inning didn’t exactly go swimmingly for the brilliant backstroker.

Bryan Wiener’s first varsity start on the mound this season nearly ended in the first Saturday.

The Mundelein senior issued a one-out walk to Wheeling’s Nick Ricciardi, hit tough-luck Kalvin Thong and uncorked a wild pitch. When he glimpsed down the left-field line, Wiener spied teammate Zach Pawlowski warming up in the bullpen.

“Yeah, I saw that,” Wiener said. “It didn’t make me feel too happy, but I knew I had to come back after that.”

The swimmer ended up making a splash after all. Wiener caught Thong off second base to escape the first unscathed and wound up pitching 5 scoreless innings, as Mundelein won 11-1 in six innings.

“He settled in and did a nice job,” coach Todd Parola said after his Mustangs improved to 10-2.

Wiener, who will swim at Lewis University after finishing third in the state in the 100-yard backstroke, struck out five and walked only one more batter after the first.

“Most of my starts I have a shaky first inning and walk a guy or two,” Wiener said. “But I always come back the second inning strong and go right at them.”

Wheeling (1-6) had two other players run into outs. Brenden Spillane (1-for-3) was thrown out by Mustangs catcher Jordan Wiegold trying to take third on a Wiener pitch in the dirt. A strike from Mustangs right fielder Torr Randau got Anthony Bacci attempting to stretch a single into a double.

“That’s one of the things we got to improve upon because we’ve had that happen a little bit this season,” Wildcats coach Matt Padron said. “We want to be aggressive on the bases, but we’ve got to be smart on the bases, too.”

Wheeling junior righty Ryan Bendewald, making his second start, threw the first 4 innings and left the game trailing 7-0. He had to pitch around a couple of errors in Mundelein’s 4-run second. Bendewald struck out a pair.

“He came out and gave us a great performance today,” Padron said. “You come and play a team like Mundelein and pitch the way he pitched, you expect to be in the game.”

Wiener was helped defensively by shortstop Will Farmer, who twice ranged to his right and made effortless throws from the hole to throw out runners. The junior played both shortstop and third base (second half of the season) on the sophomore team last year and started this season at second base.

“Whatever helps the team out most,” Farmer said of the position he prefers in the field. “But I’ve been playing shortstop a lot. I’ve been used to that, but I gotten use to second base, (too).”

Farmer has been patrolling shortstop since Butler-recruit Chris Maranto went down last week with a quadriceps injury.

“We’re very fortunate,” Parola said. “We have two very good shortstops.”

Mundelein’s 4-run second included several heads-up plays on the bases. Ryan Borucki scored from first on Farmer’s double to the gap, using a deft slide to the outside of home plate to avoid the tag and plate the game’s first run.

“It was a great slide,” Farmer said.

Farmer (2-for-3, walk) was leading off third when, on a pickoff attempt at first base, the ball trickled a few feet away from Wildcats first baseman Ian Gilliam. While Gilliam was tangled up on the ground with courtesy runner Connor O’Donoghue, Farmer sped home and easily beat the throw.

“Will had a great read on the ball,” Parola said. “A lot of guys just would have been back to third, but he anticipated real well.”

O’Donoghue stole second and Nate Avis (2-for-2, walk) bunted for a single. O’Donogue and Avis then pulled off a double-steal, with O’Donoghue scoring. O’Donoghue, who courtesy-ran all game for Wiener, finished with 3 stolen bases.

The Mustangs got their final run of the second when Wiegold purposely got caught in a rundown between first and second, allowing Avis to speed home.

Mundelein stole eight bases.

Farmer’s 2-run single and Avis’ RBI base hit had Mundelein up 7-0 after three.

In the Wheeling sixth, Spillane doubled home Thong, who was on base after being hit for the third time this season, for the Wildcats’ only run.

But in the Mundelein sixth, Borucki (2-for-4) singled in a run, pinch hitter Zach Osisek smashed a 2-run double and scored on a wild pitch to end it.

“We’re trying to be more aggressive than we have been in years past just due to the new (IHSA-mandated BBCOR) bats,” Parola said. “We’re trying to take a few more chances on the bases. I thought our guys did a good job on the bases and we were able to manufacture a few runs.”