Baseball: Willowbrook stays on a roll against Downers South

Undefeated this month, Noah Edison and the Willowbrook baseball team showed zero signs of wearing down during Monday’s West Suburban Gold series opener against Downers Grove South.

Firing fastballs and trusting the defenders behind him, Edison evaded trouble throughout his six-inning outing. The senior righty struck out five and held the Mustangs to four hits as the Warriors, who haven’t lost since March 25, beat Downers Grove South 7-1 to stay perfect in conference play. The teams will reunite at Downers Grove on Tuesday.

“We just attacked with the fastball and broke stuff off of it,” Edison said. “We kept them honest and on their toes. I know my defense has my back. I’ve just got to pound the zone and let them do the work.”

It’s the 12th consecutive victory for the Warriors, who won three games during their spring trip to Tennessee and are unbeaten since returning to Illinois. Willowbrook has been dominant in conference games, sweeping Leyden and Hinsdale South. The Warriors are eyeing the conference title in coach Vic Wisner’s last season at the helm.

“We had lost four straight and then we went on our spring trip,” said coach Curtis Hudson, who will take over for the retiring Wisner after the 2025-26 season. “It was the perfect time to come together and kind of escape, hang out as a team, build some stories, come back and get on a roll. We won three there and we haven’t looked back.”

Mixing in his curveball, Edison struck out four batters over his first two frames. He and the Warriors (13-4, 7-0 West Suburban Gold) wiggled out of trouble in the third, where Downers Grove South (6-8, 1-3 West Suburban Gold) loaded the bases. Vincent Junkas rolled a grounder to third that Ben Swanson fired home for the second out.

Nate Thurston then launched a fly ball to deep left field, but Alex Dew squeezed it to end the top half. The Mustangs earned their lone run in the fourth, scoring on Gavin Cigrand’s sacrifice fly to center. Downers Grove South put two runners on base in the fifth and loaded the bases again in the seventh, but the Mustangs were unable to capitalize.

“We just didn’t have enough quality at-bats,” Downers Grove South coach Darren Orel said. “I thought we hit the ball hard a few times with runners in scoring position, though. We just hit them right at people, but we had three or four balls that we hit right on the screws.”

Willowbrook, which is averaging 8.5 runs per game during its winning streak, tacked on four runs in the first inning to build an early lead. The Warriors largely took advantage of miscues by the Mustangs, who walked four straight batters, committed a throwing error on a play at first base that allowed two runners to score, and balked a run home.

Action picked up in the bottom of the third, where Dew sent an RBI single into right field to bring home Alek Ramey. Dew went 3-for-3 with three singles and two RBI for the Warriors, who had eight hits. Willowbrook added two runs in the fourth, scoring on an RBI single by Jory Crocker and a throwing error on Jake Bonino’s steal of third.

“I was just trying to hit a fastball and take it where it’s pitched,” Dew said. “We’ve been hitting well and all around, this whole team’s been playing great. I think we can make it to state. I think we have good odds to make a deep run in the playoffs. We have a great pitching staff and we definitely have one of the best offenses in the state.”

After Downers Grove South starting pitcher James Sobkowiak lasted one inning, left-hander Alex Claiborne did his best to limit the damage. Claiborne, who overcame a line-drive single off his body in the third, struck out four batters over four innings of relief. Of Claiborne’s three runs allowed, only two were earned.

“My two-seam (fastball) was working and my curveball was working,” Claiborne said. “I was trying to be there for my team. I wasn’t trying to do too much and play through something I couldn’t because I knew that would hurt the team more than it would help the team. But it felt better really quickly and I was able to pitch at the same level.”