Glenbard South stymies Glenbard North offense

If Glenbard South gets the pitching and defense that it received on Monday, it's going to be a very successful spring.

The mound duo of Fabian Garcia and Dan Opem wiggled out of some tense situations and the Raiders were nearly flawless in the baseball field in a 3-1 win over Glenbard North in Glen Ellyn.

It was the season opener for both teams.

"We played good ball," Garcia said. "Everyone made good plays, everyone hustled. We knew it would be tough competition so we are pretty happy."

Garcia worked five innings, striking out six. He stranded runners in each inning, including two aboard in the first, third, fourth and fifth, and was the beneficiary of nice plays by infielders Johnny Faragoi and Christian Dupuis.

The senior right-hander was staked to a 2-0 lead in the first when Lucas Lorusso led off with an infield single and came around to score on a double by Sean Cooke. Michael Ashe later added a sacrifice fly.

That margin was sliced in half in the fourth when the Panthers' Alex Murray drove in a two-out run with a single.

The home team scored an insurance run in the sixth on a single by Opem that scored Tim Marks. Opem also notched the save, tossing two scoreless innings. He induced a flyout to work out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth.

"Fabian is our No. 1," Glenbard South coach Mike Riley said. "He battled. He had a couple of tough situations and he got some tough outs. And Dan did a nice job coming in."

Glenbard North actually outhit Glenbard South by an 11-4 margin. Kyle Tintera had a pair of doubles.

"Offensively we hit the ball pretty decently," Glenbard North coach Rich Smelko said. "We just left a lot of runners on base. We couldn't come up with a big hit. But it's a work in progress. We have a lot of inexperienced players."