Going into the St. Charles Class AA baseball regional, Glenbard West and Glenbard East appeared to be two teams heading in different directions. West
(24-11) was riding a five-game winning streak while East (9-17) appeared to be simply treading through the final days of a disappointing season.
But after Monday`s semifinal action-West`s 9-5 victory over York and East`s 3-0 win over Willowbrook-the two will meet Tuesday in the title game.
It was a matchup that Glenbard West coach Tom Sandlund was not particularly looking foward to.
”They`re hot right now and not a team you`d really like to be playing in the playoffs,” said Sandlund. ”We played them earlier this year (West won 4-3), but we still don`t know a whole lot about them. We didn`t think we`d be facing them again this year.”
Dan Nagy and Kevin Mulligan made sure the Hilltoppers would get their chance. Leading 1-0, West scored eight runs in the third inning to blow the game open. Nagy (three hits, solo home run, three RBIs) had a two-run double in the rally and Mulligan drove in a pair of runs with a bases-loaded single. ”I was happy to see our bats come alive,” said Sandlund. ”We`re a tough team when we come to hit.”
West pitcher Adam Weil (8-5) allowed just two hits and struck out eight in his complete-game performance.
In Glenbard East`s victory, Al Breytspraak (4-3) hurled a six-hitter, struck out five and walked only one in a complete-game performance.
”The difference for us in this tournament has been our defense,” said East coach Dave Kwiatkowski. ”We`re making the plays now that we didn`t make all year.”
Dave Bauder had an RBI single for East in the fourth inning and Chris Bielecki drove in a run with a sixth-inning base hit.
