Baseball: Prospect's 7th-inning rally gives Giusti his 500th win
Ross Giusti has been the head coach for Prospect for 25 seasons. In that time "Juice" has been able to make the right moves at the right time to earn his team a win.
Giusti did just that Thursday night in Mt. Prospect and in the process, picked up his 500th career victory.
Giusti inserted sophomore pitcher Ryan Foley in the top of the sixth. He then had sophomore Matthew Fouch bat in the bottom of the seventh for the Knights.
Both came up huge for Giusti and the Knights.
Foley stopped a St. Viator rally in the sixth and then struck out three Lions in the seventh. Meanwhile, Fouch delivered a key two-out single to right in the bottom of the seventh as they Knights walked off with a 6-5 win.
"It is just humbling," said Giusti, who has 330 losses. "It is a milestone. When you look back on it you just think of everybody that been with us over the years."
Giusti and Prospect (7-5) were able to manufacture the win with the scored tied 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh.
Drew Terpins led off and reached on an error. He moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Gavin Flanagan. After an intentional walk and an infield fly, Fouch muscled a pitch just over a leaping second baseman Jack Glassetter and Terpins slid home with the game-winner.
"I tried not to think about it and put too much pressure on myself," said Fouch, who delivered the game with his first varsity hit.
"I'm not expected to do a ton, but I know that I can. I just wanted to put the bat on the ball and hopefully see it fall."
St. Viator (6-3), which was playing their first game since returning from the spring trip to Arizona last week, rallied from a 4-1 deficit to pull ahead 5-4 in the top of the sixth.
The Lions scored two runs in the fifth. Bryan Hatch had a fielder's choice to score Dylan Harar. Zan Von Schlegell, who had doubled, scored on Van Booven's double.
Viator followed up with a pair in the next inning as Thompson homered and Glassetter scored on Harar's double.
Foley then entered with no outs and was able to keep Harar from scoring.
The Knights tied the game in the sixth as Fouch walked, went to second on a balk, to third on a sacrifice bunt and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Owen Anderson.
Foley allowed just one hit in the top of the seventh while fanning three. Fouch's hit gave Foley his first varsity win.
"It's just a great feeling," Foley said. "This was just my third appearance. It was just all the adrenaline going in. I wanted to make sure I was throwing strikes."
Prospect struck for a trio of runs in their half of the second.
The Knights loaded the bases with nobody out on a walk by Gavin Flanagan, a single by Jack Friar and a perfect bunt single by Zach Moreth. After a strikeout, Matt Guza drove in run on a fielder's choice. Anderson followed with a long double to right center that scored two runs.
St. Viator was able to break through in the fourth. Michael Nix walked and would later score on Thomson's fielder's choice to make it 3-1.
Prospect got that run back in their next at-bat. Jack Mannion reached on an error and scored on a two-out, bases loaded walk to Nick Albrecht.
"I don't think our defense was that great and I don't think our pitching was that great," St. Viator coach Terry Beyna said. "Yes, we came back, but not enough to get the 'W'."