Tecson's strong arm lifts Glenbard West to win

All it takes is one big play to turn around a baseball game.

Jack Tecson was the guy to turn it around for Glenbard West on Thursday.

The senior right fielder's defensive gem to end the fifth inning sparked the Hilltoppers to an 8-3 West Suburban Conference crossover victory at Addison Trail.

With Glenbard West (11-9) nursing a 5-3 lead, the Blazers (5-16) had runners on second and third with one out. Tecson snared a flyball and rocketed the ball home to catcher R.J. Paul, who capped the inning-ending double play by tagging out Jake Atiyeh trying to score from third on a sacrifice fly.

The Hilltoppers added 3 runs in the seventh, one driven in by Tecson's RBI single, to pull away.

"We usually throw through a cut, but I thought I could get him so I just uncorked it and got him," Tecson said. "We were just looking to make a play there because we were confident our offense would come around and get more runs."

Glenbard West jumped on Addison Trail early when 3 runs scored on Matt Shoub's second-inning single. The Hilltoppers extended the lead to 5-0 in the fourth by scoring on an error and Alex Martenson's sacrifice fly.

The Hilltoppers seemed in command before Addison Trail answered with 3 runs in the bottom of the fourth while taking advantage of 2 errors. Angelo Feola scored on a sacrifice fly by Alex Hernandez.

Addison Trail had a golden opportunity to pull even closer in the fifth inning, but Tecson ended the threat.

"The score doesn't show how close the game really was," said Blazers coach Mike Kennedy. "We're definitely going in the right direction, but these guys don't want to hear that we're going in the right direction. They want to win. And that's the way they should look at it. We're playing better baseball, but you want to get a game like this."

Glenbard West added the 3 runs in the seventh inning on run-scoring hits by Tecson, Billy Becker and Shoub, who went 3-for-4. Atiyeh and Eric Gilliam had 2 hits for Addison Trail while Arno Curtis, Tecson and Becker did the same for the Hilltoppers.

Ryan Coleman was the complete-game winning pitcher for Glenbard West, striking out two while scattering 7 hits. Andy Barrientos took the loss for the Blazers.

"We're a young team, but we're starting to play better and guys are starting to get more confidence," said Hilltoppers coach Andy Schultz.

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