Baseball: Glenbard East breaks through in big way at West Chicago
One through nine, Glenbard East has confidence in its baseball lineup.
That confidence definitely showed at West Chicago.
The Rams exploded late in Tuesday's 11-0 five-inning Upstate Eight Conference victory at West Chicago.
Held scoreless by Wildcats starter Bobby Bartlett for three innings, Glenbard East (4-4, 1-0) broke through for 3 runs in the top of the fourth and sent 12 batters to the plate in an 8-run fifth.
Senior pitcher Jacob Bailey stranded a pair of runners in the bottom of the fifth to seal victory in the UEC opener.
"The offense was a little slow getting started, but once we did get going we were set," Bailey said. "It loosened me up and I trust my defense. Once we got some runs I knew I could shut them down."
It's an experienced lineup for the Rams, headed by fourth-year catcher Bret Bushka. But even newcomers like sophomore Joe Hamilton stepped up by getting on base all four trips to the plate on Tuesday.
Hamilton had 3 hits, including a double, single and 3 RBI in two fifth-inning at-bats. Pinch-hitter T.J. Riley, who had 2 hits, started off the 8-run inning with a triple.
"Their guy threw the ball well and we weren't making the adjustments early," said Rams coach Joel Pelland. "Finally we made those adjustments and put the ball where it needed to go. We have the same expectations from everyone in our order. We had some great at-bats."
West Chicago (0-4, 0-1) had its chances in the first three innings while the game was scoreless. The Wildcats loaded the bases with one out in the first inning and had runners on second and third in the third inning.
Both times Bailey, who allowed 5 hits and struck out five, escaped unscathed.
"We've got to learn to slow the game down," said West Chicago coach T.J. Nall. "It's still speeding up too much. When Bobby's on the mound making pitches like he did, especially early today, we've got to do whatever we can to grind out at-bats and push some runs across."
Twitter: @kevin_schmit