Batavia comes through, beats Glenbard West
Gavin Rosengren left the mound in the bottom of the fourth pumped.
After Batavia took a 1-run lead in the top of the fourth inning, the junior gave up a walk and hit a batter to put two Glenbard West players on base. A wild pitch moved both runners up a base with only one out.
But Rosengren didn’t falter under pressure. Instead, he struck out the next two batters and slapped his glove as he walked off the mound, preserving the Bulldogs’ lead in a 5-1 win Wednesday.
“Kind of scared myself a bit there,” he said. “But it felt good to know that I could get out of those kinds of situations that I put myself into on accident.”
His and Jake Mysliwiec’s pitching, along with a pair of two-out, 2-run singles, were the keys to the Bulldogs’ victory over the Hilltoppers.
Rosengren finished the game with six strikeouts and allowed only one hit in four innings of work. Mysliwiec also faired well, giving up one run and three hits while striking out three to finish out the game.
“Our pitching definitely kept us in the game,” Batavia coach Alex Beckmann said. “That change of pace from a hard-throwing righty to a soft lefty kind of worked for us today.”
The Hilltoppers also had solid performances on the mound. Starter Nick Pleasant held the Bulldogs hitless in his first three innings of work but was chased out of the game after giving up a triple to Ryan Boe and an RBI single to Jacob Aseltine to start the fourth.
West went on to send Jack Humble in to relieve the starter. Humble gave up two hits and one earned run but also struck out five in his first appearance on the mound after missing all of last season with a torn labrum.
“It feels amazing to be back,” Humble said. “To be on the mound, it was electric. I was really hyped up to get out there and coming out of the first inning I had, I came in and celebrated with the team, and that’s the biggest part.”
The offense started to ramp up in the top of the sixth inning. After Boe got on base after an error and Aseltine doubled to right field, Humble recorded back-to-back strikeouts and had two strikes on Nate Nazos. But the senior came through with a line drive to center to score two and extend the Bulldogs’ lead to 3-0.
Batavia was faced with a similar situation in the following frame. With the bases loaded and two outs, Bryce Burgoni ripped a ball down the third-base line to score two more and extend its lead to 5-0.
“Two clutch hits on their part where we were one strike away from getting out of a couple of innings and we were unable to do so,” Glenbard West coach Andy Schultz said. “Kudos to them for executing in those situations.”
The Hilltoppers got some momentum going in the bottom half of the seventh after Joey Campanella legged out an infield single that scored Nico Ruoti, but the last-ditch effort was too little too late.
“I was really pleased with the pitching overall and feel like if we can put a little bit better of an approach together at the plate, we have a shot,” Schultz said.
Glenbard West moves to 0-2 on the season and will next face St. Francis at 11 a.m. Saturday at home. The Bulldogs move to 1-0 and will look to start building a streak when they face Jacobs at 11 a.m. Saturday at home.
“The sky is the limit for us,” Beckmann said. “If we can play clean defense and put up some runs, I think we’re in good shape.”