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Sports
Oswego East baseball team shut out in postseason opener : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisOswego East baseball team shut out in postseason opener
| Schultz scatters three hits, records 10 strikeouts in 1-0 loss to Romeoville
| by Christine Bolin
| 5/24/2012
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The Oswego East baseball team's final game of the year on Monday seemed to have summed up the Wolves' season perfectly.
No. 16 Romeoville defeated No. 17 Oswego East, 1-0, at Romeoville in the first round of the Class 4A Plainfield North Regional. Unfortunately for the Wolves, this was the 10th game this season where they lost by a single run.
Fourteen games total were losses by two runs or less. Oswego East finished the season 10-22 overall.
"We didn't do the one thing we needed to, which is score," Oswego East head coach Jim Vera said. "But the effort was there, and the kids' hearts and souls were in it. It hurts, and you never expect going into a game that it's going to be over, but it is."
"It's tough that things didn't go our way," Oswego East senior starting pitcher Matt Schultz said. "We fought the whole season. If we were on the other end of those (one- and two-run games), our season would have been totally different."
With the win, Romeoville advanced to play No. 1 Plainfield North on Wednesday, but results were unavailable at press time.
Monday was also Vera's last game as head coach after five years. Assistant Bobby Kaminski will take over the program next year.
"It was a pleasure to be coached by Vera," Schultz said. "I've been with him for a long time, since freshman year."
Schultz, once again, threw a great game, but did not get the desired result in the end. He threw a complete game with 10 strikeouts, gave up three scattered hits and walked four batters.
"You can't ask for anything more than what Matt did," Vera said. "Matt did a tremendous job. That's at least four outings where he's let up one or zero earned runs. But he's going to be all right. It's frustrating, I'm sure, for him, but he's a team guy. He understands the game.
"He understands there are games where he'll have nine, 10 runs of support and other games, he won't have any. Unfortunately for him, it had to happen like this."
Schultz struck out the first four batters of the game. Romeoville's No. 5 hitter, Nolan Allee, hit a single with one out in the second. He stole second and scored the game's lone run on a sacrifice RBI bunt from Matt Esquivel.
Esquivel was initially called safe at first, but shortly after, the umpires reversed the call.
"We've seen that play before," Vera said. "(Romeoville) executed it well. They did what they needed to do."
Oswego East ended up leaving seven stranded on base, including the bases loaded in the third inning. The Wolves had one out when the bases were jammed, but Romeoville pitcher James Rooks was able to get out of the jam. He ended up with five strikeouts, two walks and gave up five hits.
"We didn't get a run in, and in that situation, you have to get a run in because every run is precious in a game like this," Vera said. "A one-run game that ends the season, that, more than anything else points out how important scoring is. It's unfortunate."
Senior second baseman Andy Jaskolski had three of Oswego East's hits. Junior left fielder Sean Kennedy and senior catcher Mike Cherven had the other two.
Schultz is one of nine seniors graduating. He will either play baseball at Auburn University next year or get drafted by a Major League team this summer.
"It cheers me up knowing I'm in a good situation next year," Schultz said. "Today starts Day 1 of next year."
At the end of the game, Vera reflected on his coaching career. He is leaving to spend more time with his growing family, which includes his wife, Jennifer, their son, Eddie and another child on the way.
"It was pretty emotional for me on Thursday (in the final game of the three-game series with Oswego), knowing it was going to be my last home game," Vera said. "I used that intentionally to get all the emotion out. It's not just the five years (at Oswego East), but also the 23 years previous. It's the time you put in. It's the time with the kids, sitting in the dugout with them, summer league games where you are working on stuff and getting to know the team a little bit and the time with the other coaches.
"I don't regret my decision at all. Every time I look at Eddie, I know I'm doing the right thing."
Notes: In the last Southwest Prairie Conference series of the year, rival Oswego won two of the three-game series with Oswego East. After the Panthers won the first two, the Wolves won the third game and last regular season game of the year, 5-2, on Thursday.
In the first game on May 15, Oswego won, 10-5 at Oswego East. The Wolves were led by Jaskolski's two RBIs. Senior third baseman Matt Miller and Kennedy also posted an RBI each. Junior shortstop Chris Cooper had two hits, as did Jaskolski and Miller.
In the second game on May 16, Oswego won, 2-1, even though Oswego East junior pitcher David Schurr struck out 10 batters, walked one and gave up six hits. Cooper provided the only RBI of the game for the Wolves.
In the final game of the series last Thursday, Litkenhus recorded two RBIs, and junior third baseman Nick Mazzocchi and senior Matt Miller each had one RBI.
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