Baseball: Waubonsie Valley erupts for 11 runs in 4th inning to oust West Aurora
After three innings the scoreboard at Waubonsie Valley showed nothing but zeros, and after three-and-half frames it only showed a single 1. But that 1 was deceiving, as the host Warriors were actually well on their way to claiming a regional championship.
The 10th-seeded Warriors sent 17 batters to the plate in the top of the fourth while exploding for 11 runs against West Aurora. The scoreboard, not used to double-digit outbursts, displayed just that 1 after the big inning. Waubonsie Valley (21-12) added four more runs in the fifth to finish off the 27-win Blackhawks 15-0 in five innings and advance to a sectional semifinal at No. 2 Lockport on Wednesday.
Waubonsie righthander Nick Lambert (7-1) was dealing on Saturday, so the Warriors actually used a sacrifice bunt after Josh Hung led off the top of the fourth with a single, thinking that a run or two might be enough for Lambert to work with. But eight hits and a pair of errors later, the scoreless game had turned into a rout.
“That was a crazy fourth,” Warriors coach Bryan Acevedo said. “The bottom of the order got us going there and that is sort of where we’ve struggled a bit at times this season. Our top has been pretty consistent.
“Shane [Torres] got the bunt down there in the five spot and it sort of snowballed from there. We were playing for one. We know Nick is gonna keep us in it.”
After a walk followed the sac bunt, shortstop Ryan Lucas doubled to left to score the game’s first run, and Nate Cerilli followed with a 2-run double over the left fielder’s head making the score 3-0. No. 9 hitter Seth Nielson then delivered the team’s third straight hit and it was 4-0. Three of the next four batters delivered hits and a dropped fly ball allowed the other batter to reach safely and extend the nightmare inning for West Aurora.
“That fourth inning there was like the inning from hell. We couldn’t get out of the inning,” said Blackhawks coach John Reeves. “Honestly, I don’t know how to describe it. You got to credit them. They had a couple clutch hits there. They hit some bullets out there.”
After three scoreless frames, West Aurora starter Jake Niedzwiedz couldn’t survive the fourth as the Warriors’ bats came to life in a big way.
Before the inning came to an end, Lucas had a second RBI hit and Lambert and the Warriors were in control.
“The first couple innings, we got a couple hits, but we really couldn’t strand any together,” said Lucas. “Right there with two guys on I knew if I was able to come through we would have some more comfort throughout the rest of the game. I did my job and then the guys behind me did too.”
Lambert allowed just four singles and didn’t walk a batter while earning the 5-inning shutout. He ended a mini jam in the second after West Aurora had two runners reach with two outs — one with a single and one on an error — by picking up the third of his four strikeouts. His team then gave him more than enough support.
“I was just standing in the dugout and we put up 11 runs so I had to get up in the bullpen,” he said, not wanting to complain too much about his team’s offensive fireworks. “Then I just had to go out there and shut them down so they didn’t get any momentum.”
Waubonsie Valley will have ace Owen Roberts ready to pitch the sectional opener, but the team’s No. 2 starter was plenty good on Saturday.
“He was great today,” Acevedo said of Lambert, who retired all 6 batters he faced after his team gave him the 11-0 lead. “No walks in five innings. No runs even when we kicked it there and things got a little tighter [in the third]. He struck a guy out, ended their threat, and then we did what we did.”