Glenbard N. tosses out Batavia
Falling behind 1-0 after allowing an unearned run in the first inning, Glenbard North's baseball team found itself in familiar position Monday afternoon.
But the Panthers (5-3) regrouped, taking the lead with a pair of third-inning runs before relying on solid pitching and strong defense on their way to a 3-2 nonconference victory over host Batavia (2-2).
“Up until today, our defense had been suspect a little bit,” admitted Panthers coach Rich Smelko, whose team committed 5 errors during last week's 9-8 win over St. Charles East. “We got off to a little bit of a slow start in that first inning but from there on out I thought we played good defense.”
Senior catcher Mike Rostine led the way defensively, throwing out a pair of would-be base stealers in the fifth inning when the Bulldogs had sliced the Panthers' lead to 3-2.
“Mike throwing out those two runners was pretty clutch,” said Smelko. “They had good hitters and they had a ton of speed so throwing two runners out kind of put them at bay a little bit.”
Robbie Bowman got hit by a pitch to lead off the fifth for the Bulldogs, and sophomore Laren Eustace laced a single to right to put runners on the corners with nobody out.
Reliever Brett Consitt entered in place of starting pitcher Bryan Polowy (2-1), and Eustace took off for second base on the second pitch. Rostine threw out Eustace at second, as Bowman came across with the Bulldogs' second run.
“We weren't even double-stealing but when they threw through, we took it,” said Batavia coach Matt Holm. “We were trying to get guys at second and third but it ended up working out for them.”
After Sam Burnoski drew a 1-out walk, Rostine helped end the threat when he threw out Burnoski trying to steal second.
“We got off to a rough start but it felt great to help our pitchers out,” said Rostine, who reached on an infield single and walked.
In the sixth, the Bulldogs again threatened as Micah Coffey led off with a single, took second on Luke Horton's sacrifice bunt, and advanced to third on Nick Pappas' single.
But Consitt induced Steve Durham to hit into an inning-ending, bang-bang double play, from shortstop Matt Albin to second baseman Josh Shine to first baseman Ryan Storto.
“Their reliever did a nice job and kept us off-balance,” said Holm. “It might have been a little bit of a different ball game if we get the call on the double play but you can't rely on that. We've got to hit, too.”
Coffey's RBI single gave the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead in the first, and the Panthers tied it in the second on Matt Frawley's run-scoring infield single.
Glenbard took the lead for good in the third, capitalizing on a throwing error, a passed ball, and Jeff Lapage's RBI double off of Batavia starting pitcher Austin Higgins (0-1).
Polowy and Consitt limited the Bulldogs to 6 hits while combining for 5 strikeouts.
“Bryan had a bounce-back start from his last one, and Brett came in in relief and threw three strong innings for us,” Smelko said of his pitchers.
Eustace and Coffey each had a pair of hits for the Bulldogs, who begin their Upstate Eight Conference season today at Metea Valley.
“Laren had a good game and Micah looked good,” said Holm. “Now we've got to start getting everybody else swinging the same way.”