Montini bounces back for win
There are many good points to baseball. And one of them is a team usually doesn’t have to wait long to erase the memory of a defeat.
St. Francis and Montini opened Suburban Christian Conference Blue play Monday in Lombard and the Spartans’ four-run fifth inning helped them win 8-7.
Twenty-four hours later, the two squads gathered at St. Francis’ Don Jones Field, and it was the Broncos who held on to win 6-5.
“They got the big inning Monday and we got the big inning today,” said Montini winning pitcher Kurtis Ligocki. “We face St. Edward (Wednesday), and this will give us good momentum.”
The victory ended a six-game losing streak for the Broncos (4-7, 1-1 SCC Blue).
“We’ve had some tough luck. We were looking to break out today,” said Montini coach Bob Landi. “It was a great pitching performance by Ligocki and we got good relief pitching from Eric Frontzak and Tyler Quick. There were some good bright spots. But we have a lot of work to do. (A record of) 4-7 is not indicative of how talented this team is.”
The Broncos went out to a 2-0 lead with a run each in the third and fourth innings.
Chris Lentine led off the third with a walk and later scored on a fielding error. With two outs in the fourth, Lentine’s single to right brought home Joe Birholtz, who with teammates Charlie Long and Mike Mangialardi hit three consecutive basehits before Lentine connected.
The Spartans (6-5, 1-1) responded in their half of the fourth with two runs to tie the game. Joshua Croci led off with a double to center. Tom Ameche followed with a triple to right, scoring Croci and Lonnie Hicks’ single would score Ameche.
The game broke open in the top of the sixth when Montini tagged the Spartans for four runs. Five St. Francis errors were responsible for the Broncos taking the 6-2 lead.
To its credit, the Spartans fought to get back into the game in their half of the sixth and pulled to within 6-5. Ameche led off with a double to left. Eric Bacon then walked, setting the table for Brett Jungles, who turned a 1-2 pitch into a triple to right for two runs. He was brought home on a well-placed sacrifice bunt by Preston Preusser.
The Spartans finished the afternoon with five extra-base hits.
“Our offense has consistently put runs on the board. But it always starts with pitching and defense and we can’t afford to have defensive meltdowns like we had today against Montini,” said St. Francis coach Rich Janor. “It’s a lack of focus. I need to do a better job of getting our defense ready to play.”
St. Francis returns to nonconference play today when it hosts Wheaton Warrenville South.