Aidan Wagner knows what his job is for Metea Valley.
The senior third baseman leads off for the Mustangs — and his mission is clear.
“My role is to get on base,” he said. “Try to steal some bags, go first to third on singles and eventually score.”
In that way, Wagner faced a unique situation Tuesday during a DuPage Valley Conference game against district rival Waubonsie Valley.
Usually, leadoff hitters only start off the game and then slot into the action as things progress. Wagner led off three times Tuesday. In the first two, he reached base, scoring both times in a 5-3 victory.
“He’s been our most consistent senior starter,” Metea coach Steve Colombe said of Wagner. “We have a lot of seniors on the team, but he’s in the lineup every day. We have a lot of juniors and a couple sophomores. They look up to him for sure.
“He sets the tone. He’s more of a quiet leader, but he leads the way just by getting on base. He can put pressure on the defense by stealing some bags. He’s doing a great job.”
Wagner walked to lead off the bottom of the first for Metea (6-5, 2-2) and scored on Daniel Bastidas’ single. Jeremy Wrona also reached on an error and scored on another error in the inning.
In the third, with the Mustangs leading 2-1, Wagner led off again. He singled to left, moved to third on Wrona’s double and scored on Jayden Malone’s sacrifice fly. Wrona then scored on an error to make it 4-1.
“I know when I’m able to get off to a hot start, especially when I’m leading off, I’m able to get those guys around me going like Jeremy behind me,” Wagner said. “They’re able to drive me in or get me going on the bases and eventually get me in.”
Colombe recently moved Wrona up to the second spot in the batting order. He likes what he sees.
“His at-bats were quality, so we wanted to move him up and put him and ‘Wags’ back to back,” Colombe said. “They’ve been doing a nice job at the top setting the tone.”
Cam Howser maintained the lead on the mound for Metea. He went five-plus innings, allowing three runs on seven hits and one walk. He struck out four.
“Cam has been great,” Colombe said. “That’s his fourth outing. He really hasn’t had a bad one yet. It’s been awesome to see how much improvement he made in the last year.
“He’s always had the stuff, but last year he struggled with his control. He kept us in control the whole game.”
Jacob Keating singled to lead off the game for Waubonsie (7-6, 2-2) and scored on Tyler Patton’s double. The Warriors didn’t score again, however, until Logan Gregorio launched his fifth homer of the season in the fifth, scoring Keating.
Jarron Thompson kept the Warriors in the game on the mound.
Waubonsie committed five errors, leading to three unearned runs, but Thompson pitched around it. In six innings, Thompson allowed five runs and only two earned on five hits and three walks. He also struck out four.
“We know Jarron is able to do that for us — keep us in games,” Waubonsie coach Bryan Acevedo said. “He did that overcoming some of those errors. We were there. We just didn’t have the big hit.”
On Monday, Wagner was named Metea’s male athlete of the month for March across all sports.
He’s been looking to add to that legacy in April.
“It is really cool being the athlete of the month,” Wagner said. “The whole athletic department picks that, so that’s pretty cool.”
Paul Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.
