By Bobby Narang- Photos by Renee Kaspar and Jenn-Anne Gledhill
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Late Tuesday night, Illinois-Lisle Wolves coach Brandin Muniz discussed the oddity of his team’s 4-1 victory, noting the low-scoring affair.
Muniz went into great detail about his team’s ability to score runs in bunches, calling Tuesday’s victory an odd one for his program.
Well, Muniz proved to be a spot-on with his words on Thursday night.
The Wolves were back in action to play Chicago Select 12U at Lisle Community Field. The two teams were locked in a 6-6 tie in the third inning before bad weather halted the action. Thursday was the rescheduled date to complete the game.
And the Wolves had their bats ready, finishing with 11 hits to post an impressive 16-8 comeback victory over Chicago Select 12U.
Even the threat of another postponement, the Wolves played hard and never lost focus in the win.
Donning all-white uniforms, the Wolves are playing at a high level, combining stellar pitching, quality baserunning, excellent fielding and hitting to put together an impressive run.
The original scheduled game on April 9 didnt start off well for the Wolves. After a put out at shortstop by Nico Villanueva, Chicago Select would plate four runs to open the game.
Four hits and poor defense behind Quinn Robinson led to extra outs in the top of the first inning. The Wolves fell further behind when Chicago Select scored another run to take a 5-0 lead after an inning and a half.
The game dramitically change in the Wolves next at-bat. Doubles by Villanueva and Michael Petrbok along with a single by Eamon Muldoon kick started the comeback. Pitching miscues saw a couple batters hit by pitch and a base on balls extended the inning that saw the Wolves score six runs to take a 6-5 lead after two innings.
Chicago Select did tie the game in the top of the third but a snafu with the lights postponed the game until tonight.
Illinois Wolves assistant coach Grant Johnson credited the victory to team baseball and unselfishness. The Wolves, as a team, showed tremendous eyes to not chase after several out-of-the strike zone pitches on the rainy and cold night in a five-inning slaughter rule victory. The victory was the third in a row for the Wolves, who had their Thursday night game against Longshots Teal 12U canceled due to bad weather.
“We’re doing better as the season progresses, getting more quality at-bats and playing better defense,” Johnson said. “Our pitching has always been good, so it’s a matter of putting it all together in one game. We’ve had some rough spots here and there, like the first time we played these guys and it got postponed. We gave them five or six runs, all unearned – same as today.
“But then, we came back and hit the ball and barreled it up. We had a couple of really good hits. Quinn Robinson had some nice balls. Graham and Christian did well. They had to bring in a new pitcher, and then all of a sudden they struggled throwing strikes.
Several of the guys made good contact. They had trouble throwing strikes after that, and the game was over. Our guys put a lot of pressure on them, and they couldn’t stop up and we ended the game in five innings via the slaughter rule.”
Christian Slazak, who pitched three stellar innings in Tuesday’s victory, had two hits in Thursday’s game to fuel the offense. Also, Quinn and Griff added two hits in the win. Graham Johnson, Michael Petrbok, Brian Grogan and Nico Villanueva each drove in two runs.
“Our pitching was good,” Slazak said. “We closed it out with a lot of runs in the last inning. We all just tried to make contact with the ball. We’ve been playing well. Our pitching and hitting are doing really well. We’re all happy.”
Graham Johnson, a third baseman, had one of the key hits in Thursday’s rally. Graham Johnson smacked a two-run, line-drive single up the middle in the fifth inning to give the Wolves a lead.
“It felt good to get that hit, especially against that team because I played for them last year,” Johnson said. “I also played against their pitcher in soccer. I was looking for a curveball or fastball on that pitch. He left a curveball up in the zone, so I was able to get a good hit.”
Johnson said the Illinois Wolves are playing at a high level.
“This is a good win, especially against my old team,” Johnson said. “It feels nice coming back after being down one run. The ball stayed low because of the wet and muddy field. We have to keep hitting. Our pitching has been really good so far. We have to keep the bats going. It’s a lot easier to field with our pitchers.”
Catcher Tyler Sokolnicki started the game on Thursday, tossing three innings to keep his team in the game until their bats heated up. The right-hander did not give up a hit and walked five on Thursday.
“I felt good on the mound, in my three innings,” Sokolnicki said. “I just tried to pitch hard and hit the strike zone. They have a good team. I just tried to do my best. It was nice to get the win. The bats kept rolling and we took advantage of their pitchers not throwing many strikes. We had a very good teamwork and did a great job of congratulating each other.”
Other Wolves contributing in the comeback win include Gavin Smith, Griff Sinkovich, Johnny Burke, Brian Grogan and Auggie Ruffolo.