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Willowbrook's only hit defeats Glenbard East

Willowbrook sophomore Kyle Ferguson's game-winning double in the bottom of the eighth inning Monday certainly was a clutch hit.

It also was the only hit for the Warriors.

Ferguson's one-out gapper after leadoff hitter Mike Petruzzi walked gave the Warriors an unlikely 3-2 victory over Glenbard East in Villa Park despite being no-hit for the first seven innings by junior left-hander Michael Sebby. Tyler Huber relieved Sebby to start the eighth.

"We weren't aware (of the no-hitter) because we were getting a lot of people on base from the errors and walks," Ferguson said. "We were struggling to get hits, but we came through. It felt nice to do that."

Willowbrook (3-1) also received a solid, complete-game performance from its No. 1 pitcher, junior Cam Zunkel (2-1). However, the teams combined for 8 errors, 5 by the Warriors.

The three errors by Glenbard East (2-2) all came in the fifth, allowing Willowbrook to tie the game 2-2. The Rams scored an error-aided run in the fourth and another on a two-out wild pitch in the fifth, when they had two of only five hits.

"One hit the entire day. It's crazy, really, really crazy how it works," Willowbrook coach Vic Wisner said. "(Sebby) threw so well. (Zunkel) threw well. Cam just goes out there and battles. He's just tough. Both kids were really, really efficient."

Sebby had 10 strikeouts and three walks, two on full counts, on 105 pitches in his second start. Zunkel had seven strikeouts, no walks and two hit batters on 95 pitches in his second start and third outing.

Sebby said he probably would have returned for the eighth had the Rams taken the lead. They put runners on third and second after Ryan Schefske's one-out double, but Zunkel got a groundout and flyout to thwart the threat.

"It was rough. We should have won that game. All of my stuff was working today, and we just couldn't pull it out," Sebby said. "There's not much you can do. It hurts. We all work together. We just had that one bad inning and other than that it was good."

After a dropped popup with one out in the fifth, Willowbrook pinch-runner Oland Watkins stole second and came all the way around to score when Cam Murer's grounder was bobbled into the air. Murer scored from third on a two-out infield error.

Sebby struck out the side 1-2-3 in the second and seventh innings. After a strikeout to start the eighth Petruzzi walked and Ferguson hit his second double this season to left-center. Ferguson had been the Warriors' first player to reach base with a walk in the fourth.

"I thought I was going to bunt to move (Petruzzi) over, but then (Wisner) said if I have the pitch, just take it. Then I got the pitch I wanted and we capitalized on it," Ferguson said.

The Warriors hadn't played since March 21 but once again got their money's worth. This was already their third extra-inning game - all victories in eight innings.

"It shows that our team definitely has fight in us. We're hoping to win a couple in seven maybe, but it's always nice to win in extra innings," Zunkel said. "It was real tough when you're not getting hits, balls just aren't falling, but this team just doesn't give up."

The Rams' leadoff hitter reached base from the third through sixth innings. Matt Kinney began the fourth being hit by a pitch. He scored from second after a potential inning-ending double-play ball resulted in an errant throw to first.

Tim Pignato, who singled to lead off the fifth, scored on a two-out wild pitch after advancing on a sacrifice by Joey Moore and ground out.

Otherwise, the Rams stranded five runners in scoring position. In the sixth an overrun double that would have put runners on third and second with no outs resulted in the trail runner being thrown out. Zunkel fanned the next two batters.

"When you throw a no-hitter, you should win. That's just the bottom line," Glenbard East coach Joel Pelland said. "(Zunkel) threw a good game, but when you throw a no-hitter you should win. We just didn't play good baseball."

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