SYCAMORE – Jack Mizgalski certainly helped himself on Monday.
The junior had a big day at the plate and on the mound for the Sycamore baseball team and the Spartans cruised to a 12-1 win over Morris in their conference opener on a windy afternoon in Sycamore.
Mizgalski threw a complete game, allowing three hits and striking out seven on the mound. Offensively, he went 3 for 4 with three doubles and two RBIs as the Spartans (6-2 overall, 1-0 in Northern Illinois Big 12 East) collected 12 hits as a team.
"I'm more impressed with his pitching," Sycamore coach Jason Cavanaugh said. "Obviously, we'll take all the numbers he put up, but really good on the mound. He came out throwing strikes right away."
Jordan Wright went 2 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs for the Spartans, Michael Beaudoin was 2 for 3 with three RBIs and Austin Perry went 2 for 2 with two runs.
While both teams committed errors on the day – Morris had four, Sycamore had three – the Spartans allowed no runs off their errors and scored 10 unearned runs on Morris. Sycamore, which got the leadoff batter on base in each inning, scored five in the second frame and six in the third, with both big innings coming with crucial errors by Morris.
"We executed," said Cavanaugh said, who highlighted the Spartans' No. 8 (Jarod Montavon) and No. 9 (Aidan Hickey) hitters for coming through with important plays.
Morris (5-8 overall, 0-1 in Northern Illinois Big 12 East) actually jumped out early against the Spartans, after Danny Borgstrom led off the game with a double and scored on a single by Danny Walker. Mizgalski, who was credited with the loss after struggling in three innings pitched in a 6-3 defeat to Hononegah in his last outing, struck out two batters to end the inning. Morris got a runner past first base only one more time the rest of the way.
"I was happier with my pitching today because I had a rough outing last time," Mizgalski said. "I wanted to come back strong against Morris – but my hitting was definitely a plus, too. I was happy with both."
The two teams play the second game of the series at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at Morris.