By Patrick Z McGavin- Photos by Jenn-Anne Gledhill
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LISLE— Every talented baseball team has a way of upending the logical thinking connected to the game.
Exhibit A is Auggie Ruffolo, the No. 12 hitter in the stacked lineup of the Illinois Wolves 13U team. The conventional belief given his position in the batting order is that he is a vulnerable link.
“I didn’t want to be the last out, and I just wanted to keep the inning going and help us get even more runs out there,” the right fielder said.
He delivered big time.
Ruffolo smashed a two-out, bases-loaded two-run double that sparked a nine-run second inning in the Wolves’ 14-4 six inning victory over the Northwest Travelers White 13U Tuesday night, April 15, at Community Park.
The Wolves (11-1, 1-0) made their season debut in the Greater Chicagoland Baseball League memorable, even if the game had some choppy and uncertain moments.
Ruffolo went 2-for-2, driving in the two runs and scoring three times to help spark the attack. He nearly had a home run in the 6th inning, driving another deep opposite ball that hit off the wall.
He settled for his second double.
“I stepped up at the plate today, and I think I just saw the ball really well today,” he said. “In our first couple of games, I think I was focused on driving the ball, or getting my foot down and getting to first as quickly as I could.
“Now my attitude is just see the ball, hit the ball and make great contact.”
Five of the Wolves’ 16 hits went for extra bases, with the highlight being back-to-back home runs by infielder Fred Sackley and starting pitcher Michael Petrbok to start the 5th inning.
The Wolves made another loud statement, collecting their second consecutive 10-run victory after suffering their first loss of the season Saturday night.
It was not always easy.
Early fielding mistakes and walks by Petrbok helped NWT jump out to the 1-0 first inning lead.
“I think after the first inning we all realized that they were putting runs on, and we needed to lock in and start hitting well,” Sackley said.
“I think we’re all still pretty mad about that first loss the other night, But we had a game last night, and we got back out there and won. We’re still upset, but we accepted our defeat. We knew we weren’t going to go undefeated this year.”
Outfielder Jackson Martin provided the early fireworks with an RBI single down the left field line that knotted the score at 1-1.
The real drama played out in the second inning with the Wolves sending 14 batters to the plate during the nine-run outburst that secured a dominant thrust and offset the early mistakes.
Infielder Brady Madden started the onslaught with an RBI single.
The larger story was the ability of the players to extend at-bats, and go deep into the inning. Eventually the math worked in their favor. The team is simply too good and too skilled to stay quiet for long stretches of the game.
Impressively almost all the damage was done with two outs, and initiated by the bottom of the order. Singles by catcher Julien Duque and designated player Jonny Burke set the stage for Ruffolo.
“I got down 0-2 in the count, and I knew I had to stay focused and wait for my pitch,” he said. “I just knew I had to protect the runners we had on base, and make contact.”
His two-run shot opened the floodgates, setting up the lethal hitters at the top of the order. Following an infield RBI by Petrbok, Martin extended the lead with a two-run single.
Martin finished 2-for-2 with three RBI.
“That hit by Auggie just set the tone for the rest of the game, and showed how anybody on the team is capable of getting the big hit,” Martin said.
“I think everybody was in a really good zone. I felt like I was seeing the ball really well tonight.”
Infielder Christian Slazak punctuated the huge inning with a three-run home run. His ball flared out like a rocket over the right center wall, illustrating the explosive capabilities of the offensive attack.
“When you have two outs like we did there, everybody wants to step up and do something positive,” Sackley. “One person gets a hit, and then everybody just starts to stack them up.
“We are all kind of going out there, and getting it done together.”
Sackley finished 2-for-4 with the home run and four runs scored. Petrbok was 2-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored.
“That second inning was really nice because we all just started hitting, and doing what we’ve been doing,” Petrbok said.
“We were up batting, swinging and getting hits, and all with two outs, so it was great.”
The offensive output also helped Petbrok overcome his starting pitching performance that featured two strikeouts and two walks.
The early fielding difficulties caught him out of rhythm.
“At the start, I was just getting kind of mad,” Petrbok said. “We had back-to-back errors, and then I couldn’t get my fastball over. So there was really nothing else but throwing the curveball over the plate.
“I tried to make some adjustments, but it just wasn’t working for me today.”
Of the 23 strikes he threw, 19 were from his curveball.
Payton Swartzendruber threw four innings of relief, striking out seven and giving up four walks and three runs. The Wolves were a little sloppy and complacent late in the game, and allowed NTW to hang around. ound
The Wolves are playing a rematch with the Travelers on Thursday night in Wheeling.
“We have to put teams away,” Martin said. “We have to learn how to put teams away earlier.
“I think the ceiling for this team is very high. We know we can hang with the best teams out there the rest of the season. I think we’re going to do very well as the season goes forward.”
The Illinois Wolves 13U program had many standout contributors in the 14-4 six-inning victory over Northwest Travelers White 13U Tuesday night.
Those players were Graham Johnson, Matthew Wiskowski and Griff Sinkovich.
