AROUND THE HORN
Twenty-one walks in 18 innings. That frightening number of free passes administered by Lyons Township pitchers is all coach George Ushela needed to see to explain the baseball team’s two losses at the Flyers Classic over the weekend.
After a 3-0 start to their season, the Lions (4-2-1) have sputtered a bit, tying Morton 2-2 after seven innings on Thursday and then going 1-2 at the tournament.
The Lions knocked off St. Charles North 5-3 in their opening round match up of the Flyers Classic, but subsequently dropped a pair of tourney games (17-14 to Joliet Catholic and 11-10 to Jacobs).
C.J. Esposito (2-0) did it all against St. Charles North, picking up the win with a four-strikeout, two-hit pitching gem and slugging a three-run homer.
Brian Lorenz (three hits) led the LT offense to an early 7-1 lead against Joliet Catholic, but the Hilltoppers rallied with the aid of eight walks and timely hitting to pull out the victory.
The Lions jumped out to a seemingly insurmountable 9-0 advantage over Jacobs only to drop another heartbreaker, 11-10
“These games have been slugfests,” Ushela said. “We’re hitting the ball well, but we have to avoid giving up the big inning and we are walking too many guys.”
Bulldogs find way under Ziroli
Seven games into the Mike Ziroli coaching era at RB, the Bulldogs (3-4) have already provided many highlights for their first-year skipper like: A spectacular 16-strikeout, no-hitter from Jon Kleinmeyer (1-2, 1.17 ERA, 22 K, 3 BB, 18 IP), a .274 team average, which is 50 points higher then the opposition (.227) and 32 stolen bases as a team.
About the only part of their game the Bulldogs are understandably defensive about is, well, their defense, which has committed 19 errors.
“Overall, we’re doing well but we need to play better defense,” said Ziroli. “Errors have cost us some games.”
A glaring example of RB’s defensive miscues costing them dearly occurred during a 4-3 loss in eight innings against St. Laurence on Friday. Starter Jack Kincanon tossed seven innings allowing only five hits and fanning three Vikings, however RB had four errors in the loss.
The Bulldogs bounced back Saturday with an 8-5 victory over Argo.
Winning pitcher Zak Martell pitched five scoreless innings and Rob Frampton earned an impressive save, striking out three of the five batters he faced.
Offensively, Scott Rysz (.429, 7 stolen bases), Kevin Onischuk (.438, 5 stolen bases), Dylan Krug (.455, 5 RBIs), Joe Ruge (5 RBIs), Marty Belchak and Pat Cullen (4 RBIs each) are off to fast starts this spring.