Baseball: Downers Grove South gets bats going again
Downers Grove South's baseball team is showing signs of returning to its sweet-swinging ways.
Considering the offensive struggles through much of this season, any sign was welcome.
The Mustangs looked much better at the plate in Thursday's 9-2 West Suburban Gold win over Hinsdale South in Darien.
Combined with improved plate approaches earlier this week in wins over the Hornets (11-11, 6-6) and Morton, Downers South (14-10, 11-3) might be getting hot at the right time. The top five batters in the lineup accounted for the team's 7 hits on Thursday and all but one starter reached base.
"We've been having a lot of energy in the dugout and I really think that's what's triggered our offensive spark a little bit," said Mustangs outfielder Keegan Garland, who also pitched an inning of relief. "We feel great right now. As long as this keeps up we'll be tough to beat. The past few games we've just been clicking."
Downers South broke out to a 5-1 second-inning lead on only 3 hits. Two runs scored on groundouts while Jack Blazevich and Jake Pileggi singled in runs.
Pileggi added another RBI single in the fourth inning, and the Mustangs scored 3 unearned runs in the fifth. A run-scoring groundout and Charlie Kuhlman's sacrifice fly boosted the lead to 9-1.
As the Mustangs added on, Hinsdale South couldn't get enough going against Downers South starting pitcher Gino Cozzi, who struck out six and scattered 7 hits in 5 innings.
"We dug ourselves a hole early, and we were forced to fight back," said Hornets coach Paul Hoel. "We were just a little off. We made some mistakes that we probably shouldn't be making this late in the season, but we're still pretty young."
Jake Klepacz drove in a first-inning run for the Hornets with an infield single. Jacob Fulscher had a sixth-inning RBI single.
"Morton (on Wednesday) was probably the best we've hit the ball all year," said Mustangs coach Darren Orel. "We're seeing the ball a little better. We're getting guys on base and then we're able to do some of the things we like to do on the bases."
Twitter: @kevin_schmit