St. Charles East's Konrad rebounds by beating Bartlett
St. Charles East senior pitcher Tommy Konrad was back with his usual good stuff Thursday afternoon.
After getting chased early in last Friday's outing against Waubonsie Valley and admittedly doing some soul searching throughout the week, the left-hander went the distance to help lift the Saints (9-4, 3-2) to a 3-2 victory over Bartlett (6-6, 2-3) in St. Charles.
Konrad, who fanned 5 and allowed 6 hits - all singles - erased the haunting memory of last week's 8-run second against Waubonsie Valley with help from his defense and a nifty pickoff move.
Center fielder Robert Wendt gunned down the Hawks' Greg Partyka at the plate for the third out in the fourth inning and Konrad picked off baserunner Ryan Yore to end the game (Konrad to first baseman Tony Rallo to shortstop Ryan Sotern) after Yore had reached on a 2-out single.
"I did think they were going to go just because they had been pretty aggressive," said Saints coach Dave Haskins, who called for the pickoff play.
In the fourth, Partyka and Mike Mancuso reached with 2-out infield hits before David Mutter laced a single to center. Wendt charged the slow-rolling ball and threw a 1-hop strike to catcher T.J. Travis, who applied the tag to Partyka to end the threat.
"I fielded it cleanly and felt smooth coming through," said Wendt. "It's always nice to throw out a kid at the plate and then come up (to bat) the next inning. The throw was kind of a pick-me-up for our offense."
In the bottom half of the frame, Wendt delivered a 2-out RBI single to drive home courtesy runner Anthony Scotello and extend the Saints' lead to 3-0.
"It was nice for Wendt to get that guy out at home and then get a nice 2-out RBI," said Haskins. "It was a great inning for him and it picked us up as a team."
That was part of a series of baserunning gaffes for the Hawks, who also had a runner caught off first base by Travis in the second inning.
"On the play at the plate, I'm going to challenge them," said Hawks coach Russ Lorenz. "He (Wendt) made a great throw and it took a great bounce. Greg's not known for his speed but we're going to test them. We've got to be aggressive early in the ballgame. I'll take that one for the team."
The Saints grabbed a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the second before Ryan O'Dell smacked a 2-out RBI double to the right-center gap in the third to make it 2-0.
Bartlett got on the board with an unearned run in the fifth before pinch-hitter Phil Leonard's bases-loaded sacrifice fly in the sixth narrowed the Hawks' deficit to 3-2.
But Konrad (2-1, 3 saves) worked out of the sixth-inning jam and eventually out-dueled Hawks starting pitcher Matt DiCianni (1-2).
"I felt good," said Konrad, who couldn't wait to take the ball again after what happened against Waubonsie.
"I couldn't hit my spot at all last week. I kind of kept it in my head all week. I tried building my arm up so I'd come out with a good outing today."
St. Charles East will send sophomore call-up Luke Ludke to the mound today in search of the 2-game sweep at Bartlett.