Baseball: Mintz, Willowbrook zero out against Hinsdale South

Like a few other Willowbrook baseball games this season, the zeros kept going up for the Warriors' hitters in Monday's West Suburban Gold opener at Hinsdale South.

But senior pitcher Ryan Mintz was right there, putting up his own zeros. Seven actually.

Well, almost seven. Trevor Jaloszynski notched the final out of the game with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning to preserve Willowbrook's 2-0 victory in Darien.

The only scoring came in the top of the seventh when Willowbrook (4-3, 1-0) pinch-hitter Nelson Melon drove in both runs with a single to right field.

"I was just trying to get outs so we could go back out there and hit," Mintz said. "In these low-scoring games you just have to grind them out and keep shutting them down."

Mintz and Hinsdale South starting pitcher Frankie Klemm were brilliant while getting some help from a howling wind blowing in from right field. Mintz scattered 6 hits - 3 infield hits - while striking out eight. Klemm went the distance, striking out nine and allowing 5 hits.

Both pitchers issued a single walk in the seventh inning.

"We've played good baseball, we just haven't been swinging it," said Willowbrook coach Vic Wisner. "It seems like every game so far we've seen the other team's top pitcher. It's helping us, but we're seeing dynamite pitching and we've had to battle."

Hinsdale South (4-3, 0-1) put five runners on base in the final two innings, but a pair of strikeouts ended the sixth and a dribbler to Jaloszynski on the mound ended the game with the winning run at first base. James Ruzicka went 3-for-4 for the Hornets.

Jaloszynski led off the top of the seventh with a double and Anthony Yannotti singled. Yannotti stole second to set up Melon's one-out single.

"Frankie couldn't have given us anything more," said Hornets coach Paul Hoel. "We had a couple chances and I actually thought we hit the ball harder than them. It was just right at someone."

Twitter: @kevin_schmit