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Sports
Wolves slammed hard : Sports : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisWolves slammed hard
| Wildcats break game open with monster third inning
| by Matt Daniels
| 4/22/2010
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The first two innings showed the chance for a close, competitive baseball game between Oswego East and Plainfield Central existed.
Then the third inning came around.
Plainfield Central sent 11 batters to the plate in the bottom of the third, and scored nine runs to break open a 2-2 game on a mild Tuesday afternoon. The host Wildcats never let up against the Wolves, securing a 13-3 win in five innings that opened up the three-game series between the two Southwest Prairie Conference schools.
"These guys can flat-out hit," Oswego East head coach Jim Vera said of Plainfield Central. "There's no doubt about it, looking at their scores and talking to other coaches. I think we just didn't come to play. We've been kind of up and down. It's like we get up and down, and up and down. You can't do that in this sport. You've got to be more even-keeled."
The two teams were set to meet again on Wednesday at Oswego East - results unavailable at press time - before the series concludes at 4:30 p.m. today, Thursday, back at Plainfield Central.
The Wolves (7-9, 1-6 SPC) seemed to act like their own worst enemies in the third. On offense, Oswego East had forced Plainfield Central senior starter Derek DeYoung into 53 pitches through the first two innings, working him deep into counts. That patience paid off with a two-run home run over the center field fence by senior shortstop Mike Mikulan in the first inning to stake the Wolves to a 2-0 lead.
But after the Wildcats (10-5, 5-2) tacked on two runs off Oswego East senior starter Matt Rodriguez in the first to tie it at 2 and after both teams did not score in the second inning, DeYoung only threw six pitches in the third inning. Senior catcher Joe Melisi led off with a single to center field, but Mikulan (1-for-3) hit a slow roller towards junior third baseman Evan Gallegos, who started a double play that barely forced Mikulan at first by a step.
DeYoung then induced a fly ball from senior Brad Warnecke three pitches later to send the Wildcats quickly back to their dugout.
"He threw 30 pitches that first inning, and his pitch count was getting up there," Plainfield Central head coach Bob Dobbertin said. "You're worried about it, and it's important you can come out and shut a team down quick. To have a quick inning on defense, you get to come in and hit right away."
And Plainfield Central did not return to its dugout shortly after the bottom of the third began. The Wildcats rapped out seven hits in the inning, and two Oswego East errors also played a factor in either letting Plainfield Central score or extend the inning for the Wildcats.
"It seems like lately, when we lose, our mistakes are big mistakes," Vera said. "It just seems like they come at bad times."
The Wildcats led 6-2 after RBI singles from senior right fielder Jake Murphy and junior center fielder Jon Bolton before DeYoung (4-for-4) blooped an RBI double down the right field line.
Rodriguez walked senior first basemen AJ Enger to load the bases, and then a fielding error by the Wolves made it 7-2 and kept the inning alive with two outs.
This prompted Vera to pull Rodriguez, and bring in junior Cody Burton.
But Plainfield Central sophomore second baseman Mark DeYoung greeted Burton rudely, taking a 2-1 pitch from the right-hander and hitting a grand slam over the fence in right-center field that put the Wildcats out in front 11-2. The younger DeYoung finished 2-for-3 with five RBIs in the game, and Dobbertin said his sacrifice bunt early in the third was key to the offensive surge.
"We got our bunt down," Dobbertin said. "We talked about it all last week. When you get a bunt down and you execute a play, it kind of lifts everybody's spirits up, and then the kid that we had on second at the time, he wasn't going to score on a base hit. He needed to be on third to score. All of a sudden, you get that extra run, now you've got the lead and now you can kind of go."
The Wolves made it 11-3 in the fourth on an RBI groundout from sophomore first baseman Matt Schultz that scored junior third baseman Bobby Smith, but that was the last gasp by Oswego East's offense on the day.
The Wildcats pushed across two runs in the fourth that increased their lead to 13-3, and the Wolves could not extend the game past five innings despite having runners on second and third in the fifth following a two-out double by Smith (2-for-3).
Smith was the only Oswego East player to manage multiple hits, and the Wolves only had four on the day against Derek DeYoung.
"If they can play with confidence, they can play with anybody," Vera said of his team, who had a three-game winning streak snapped with Tuesday's loss. "They showed that last week. We've got to stop getting our heads down and getting down on ourselves. We've got to pick each other up."
Rodriguez (0-4) suffered the loss, throwing 2 2/3 innings and giving up 10 runs on 11 hits, but only five of the runs he allowed were earned. He walked two and struck out four.
Derek DeYoung threw all five innings for Plainfield Central, with two of the three runs he allowed earned. He walked five and struck out six to keep the Wolves searching for consistent play in the SPC.
"That's the main thing we just talked about is these guys have got to stay together," Ver said. "There's no one guy, there's no three or four guys. It's everybody. It's not one error that cost us the game. It's not one strikeout. It's not one walk. It's a combination of things."
•Notes: Senior Seth Hillesland pitched five innings of shutout ball to help Oswego East earn a 10-0 win in six innings on Monday at IMSA. Hillesland (2-0) gave up three hits and only walked one while striking out eight. Senior Johnny Savu and junior Danny Klingbeil each went 3-for-3 with two runs scored while Klingbeil added an RBI. Mikulan and junior Adam Kaczmarek each contributed two RBIs.
-Junior Eric Egan gave the Wolves a quality start in their 8-1 at Bolingbrook last Saturday. Egan (1-1) threw six innings, allowing three hits and one unearned run while he walked one and struck out five. Mikulan was 2-for-4 and three RBIs - with both his hits doubles. Smith (2-for-4, two RBIs), seni Warnecke (2-for-3, two runs scored, one RBI) and Savu (2-for-4, two runs scored, one RBI) all had solid offensive games.
-Warnecke (2-1) struck out 12 Minooka batters last Thursday to help Oswego East win 10-2 against the highly-touted Indians at home in the three-game series finale. The right-hander threw all seven innings, allowing two earned runs on five hits while he walked one. Smith enjoyed a big day offensively, going 2-for-3 and four RBIs, with both of his hits being two-run home runs. Melisi also helped out, going 1-for-3 with a home run while senior B.J. Aguirre chipped in with two RBIs.
-Minooka edged Oswego East 3-2 on April 14 at Minooka. Rodriguez went toe-to-toe with highly-regarded prospect Mike Foltynewicz, but suffered the loss. He went six innings, gave up seven hits and only one of the runs he allowed was earned while he walked one and struck out five. Mikulan was 1-for-3 with an RBI while Melisi, Warnecke and Aguirre also added hits.
-After the series with Plainfield Central is scheduled to end today, the Wolves are set to play at Geneva at 10 a.m. this Saturday before hosting Plainfield East at 4:30 p.m. next Tuesday to begin a three-game SPC series with the Bengals. The second game is set for 4:30 p.m. next Wednesday at Plainfield East before the series ends at 4:30 p.m. next Thursday, April 29 at Oswego East.
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