WW South snaps mini-skid
After two days of stewing on a lousy Saturday, Wheaton Warrenville South’s baseball team finally had some reason to cheer.
The visiting Tigers salvaged the finale of their three-game DuPage Valley Conference series with Wheaton North by claiming a 5-2 victory on Monday.
The win ended a mild three-game losing streak that became really old, really quick.
“This felt great because we’ve had a rough few games here,” said Tigers catcher Rich O’Neil. “This one was close the whole way, but we just kept battling and pulled through at the end.”
Tigers starting pitcher Andrew Hjellming (1-2) was terrific in 6 innings — especially when faced with jams that appeared pretty dire. Wheaton North (12-5, 7-3) loaded the bases three times but couldn’t push across a run in the fourth or sixth inning.
Jeff Schalk put the Falcons ahead 1-0 in the bottom of the first on an RBI single. But despite loading the bases for the first time, that was the lone run in the frame.
It set an unfortunate tone for Wheaton North, and started a thrilling trend for Hjellming and the Tigers (9-11, 5-6).
“You just tip your hat to their pitcher, he did a great job with guys on base,” said Falcons coach Dan Schoessling. “Just too many opportunities we let slip away there. It started in the first inning and it just carried on. It’s too bad. I thought Eric (Scandora) pitched a great game, and we didn’t support him offensively or defensively.”
All 5 runs for WW South were unearned after the Falcons committed 5 errors in the game.
A third-inning error tied the game, and then a sixth-inning error opened the door for 3 runs when Wheaton North could have sent the Tigers down in order. Instead, Jeremy Rhoades doubled home the go-ahead run and O’Neil added a 2-run single that provided some insurance.
Zach Jarosz capped the Tigers’ scoring in the top of the seventh with a sacrifice fly. Wheaton North narrowed the gap to 5-2 in the bottom of the seventh on Micah Penn’s run-scoring single.
Jason Schuman came on in relief of Hjellming with a runner on first and no outs, and he closed out the win for the Tigers.
“It was a tough Saturday,” Tigers coach Tim Brylka said of his team’s doubleheader sweep by the Falcons. “And then Friday we got beat pretty bad by Naperville North, so three games in a row there we were scuffling a little bit. I’m proud of the kids and the way they responded.”