Batavia opens postseason with win over Proviso West

There's plenty of teams entering postseason play this week with better records than 18-15 Batavia.

There's far, far fewer with anywhere near the momentum.

Batavia, winners of 7 straight conference games to erase a 6-game deficit and share the Western Sun crown, opened regional play with a 10-6 victory over Proviso West Monday in Batavia.

It was the latest in a red-hot finish that included series sweeps of Glenbard South and Yorkville.

"It's been absolutely amazing," senior pitcher Kevin Flinn said. "To get rolling at the end and we are just hoping to carry this onto the playoffs. Conference was definitely a big boost to our morale."

The road gets a lot tougher immediately for 15th-seed Batavia, who plays No. 2 Wheaton North in Wheaton at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. It's a rematch of last year's sectional championship game that Batavia won 6-4 in front of a big crowd at St. Charles North.

"They are good, they are well-coached, they play a very good schedule," Batavia coach Matt Holm said. "We are not going to be able to make mistakes because they don't."

Batavia only committed 1 error in Monday's win, though the Bulldogs did fall behind 2-0 after one inning. Proviso West (9-26) stroked a couple doubles against winning pitcher Tim Schofield (4-1) in the first.

"I knew they were going to hit the ball but it surprised me they hit Scho as much as they did early," Holm said.

Batavia grabbed a 4-2 lead in the second inning on a 2-run single by Nick Leonard and a 2-run double by Schofield.

"I am just trying to pick it (the ball) up as soon as possible when it comes out of the pitcher's hands," said Leonard, who went 3-for-3 Monday after a torrid series against Yorkville last week. "It gives me more time to react to the ball."

The Bulldogs made it 5-2 in the third when Nick Beltrano beat out an infield single and scored on Jay Clark's double.

After Proviso West answered with 4 runs in the fourth to regain a 6-5 lead, Batavia capitalized on 3 walks to score 3 in its half of the fourth.

Danny Seiton walked with the bases loaded to score the first run. Beltrano's single plated the next run and Clark's RBI groundout made it 8-6.

Holm turned to Flinn over the final three innings and the senior delivered three shutout innings, striking out five.

"I came in and hit my spots," Flinn said. "I felt pretty good today. I felt good when I was down in the bullpen. I have pitched a lot so my arm is in pretty good shape."

Flinn picked up his third save in the last week and fifth on the season.

"He's really been on the last several outings," Holm said.

Batavia added to its lead with single runs in the fifth and sixth on RBI singles by Schofield and Clark. Both of those players had 3 RBI and combined for 5 of Batavia's 13 hits.

The Bulldogs send Matt Taylor to the mound Wednesday hoping to do what Brian Krolikowski did in last year's sectional title game and beat a perennial power Wheaton North.

"Just knowing what we could do," Leonard said of the key to Batavia's turnaround. "We seemed we weren't playing to our potential. We found it. We're doing the every day stuff right. The team chemistry was built up over season. As we kept playing we became closer and we rely on each other."