With Tinley Park’s pitchers struggling to find the strike zone Friday, Lemont’s Nick Wisz went to the plate with a patient approach.
When he did get a strike, though, he was ready.
“When a guy’s struggling to throw strikes, you usually want to go up there and take a first strike,” he said. “Make him throw that first strike, then get after it. When you do get your pitch, jump on it.”
Wisz made that approach pay off, doubling three times to lead the host Indians to a 9-2 South Suburban Blue win.
“Wisz has really been swinging the bat well lately,” Lemont coach Brian Storako said. “He might have more extra-base hits than singles this year. He’s been getting a lot of big hits for us. We’ve had a lot of guys swinging the bats well for us lately.”
The Indians (10-4, 8-0) didn’t have to do much swinging in the first inning, scoring five times on two hits as Colin Kelly struggled with his control for Tinley Park (12-6, 3-5).
Lemont drew four walks in the inning. Starting pitcher Garrett Acton produced an RBI double and Dom Connolly had a two-run single.
The outburst came after Acton struck out the side in the top of the first.
“We got really hyped after Garrett went out there and struck out three straight guys,” Wisz said. “We got pumped up and we made that momentum carry over to the offense.”
Acton was perfect through three innings and had five strikeouts, but was lifted after walking Zach Fitzgibbons to lead off the fourth.
“He was on a strict 40-pitch limit,” Storako said. “He came out and threw really well.”
Acton knew before he threw the first pitch of the game that it was going to be a good day.
“I could kind of feel it as soon I started warming up,” he said. “My stuff was feeling really good and I felt like I really had things working.”
Wisz added RBI doubles in the second and fifth innings and Ryan Sublette singled him home after his leadoff double in the fourth.
The Indians also played strong defense behind Acton and relievers Nate Madej and Ben Sabourin. Lemont did not commit an error and turned a pair of double plays.
“I was really happy with how everyone played defense,” Acton said. “It was some of the cleanest ‘D’ we’ve played all year. I know I can count on all those guys behind me.”
Conner Ceglarz went 2-for-3 with a double for Tinley Park and Alec Foster produced an RBI single.
“We’ve had a long week with four quality opponents,” Tinley Park coach Josh O’Shea said. “We played Lemont twice, plus Stagg and Shepard and to come out of that 2-2, it’s pretty good. I was proud of our guys (Friday) because we could have easily gone home after five innings down 10-0, but we made Lemont work for it.”
Millar is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
