Baseball: Geneva holds off late Wheaton Warrenville South rally to take conference opener, stay unbeaten

GENEVA – By the end of the second inning Monday, Wheaton Warrenville South fans were just hoping the Tigers would score a run.

But with two outs in the seventh with the bases loaded and the tying run at the plate, they were cheering and hoping the Tigers would complete the comeback and draw even.

In the end, it was the Geneva fans who went home happy. The Vikings came away with a 14-10 victory over the Tigers to take the first of a three-game series to start DuKane Conference play.

WW South (4-3, 0-1), which entered the final inning down 14-6, got the jump on Vikings reliever Logan Bova. After getting two hits and three walks to cut the deficit to 14-9 and having the bases loaded with only one out, Geneva coach Brad Wendell put reliever Shane Webb into the game.

Despite walking in another run and bringing the tying run to the plate, Webb got the final two outs, including a hard line drive to second base to end the game.

“No team’s ever out of it until the last pitch,” Wendell said. “We just have to stay in focus throughout the whole entire process, even when you’re up eight or nine runs.”

The Vikings’ offense proved to be the difference-maker in the game. Geneva’s 14 runs marked the seventh time in nine games this season that they’ve eclipsed the 10-run mark.

“The guys have been really disciplined in picking their pitches and we’ve been hitting it hard and have been putting up crooked numbers as a result,” Wendell said. “We know that there are good arms out there and we just have to stay competitive.”

Leading the charge on offense was Joey Cosentino, who finished 2-for-2 with a double and five RBIs. Cosentino, who has gotten hit by a pitch seven times so far this season, said he was happy to get hits and not get hit.

“It felt great. I’m done getting hit,” he said. “But I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They got on base and I got them home. Without that, I wouldn’t have five RBIs.”

Geneva (9-0, 1-0) started off hot with back-to-back four-run innings. Nate Stempowski started the scoring with a bloop single that brought in two runners. After Bryce Breon walked, an RBI groundout from Chase Sorrentino and a Cosentino sacrifice fly doubled the lead.

The Vikings chased WW South starter Drew Eger with two outs in the bottom of the second after he loaded the bases and gave up back-to-back walks to score two runs. After Ryne Adler came on in relief, Sorrentino knocked a double to left field for an 8-0 advantage.

“I was a little nervous at first,” Sorrentino said. “I think I was down 1-2 in the count, but I kept battling and then got a base hit down the line.”

Sorrentino got another two-run hit off Adler – once again with two outs – but was thrown out trying to leg out the hit for a double.

The Vikings almost ended the game in the fifth with a four-run inning that was capped with a two-run home run by Breon to make it 14-5.

Breon started the game for the Vikings. He went six innings and allowed six runs (three earned) on seven hits while striking out five.

Down nine runs, the Tigers showed they had fight to come back. WW South coach John Scherrman said that while the inconsistencies on the mound and in the field weren’t great, he had to give credit where credit was due.

“Their starter shut us down early,” Scherrman said. “But I have to give credit to our guys for continuing to fight and battle to come back.”

Jayce Maranell led the Tigers’ comeback attempt. He was 3-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. He launched a solo homer over the center field fence to start the top of the sixth.

“That was my first big hit of the year and it felt very good,” Maranell said. “I’ve got many more to come though.”

Maranell kicked off the scoring in the fourth with an RBI double that scored Chris Myers. After Maranell scored on an error, Jacob Conover launched a two-run homer to close the gap to 8-4.

Despite the inconsistencies on the mound, the Tigers got good performances from Adler, who allowed only the two hits by Sorrentino, and Sean Doherty, who didn’t allow a hit in the final 1 1/3 innings.

“They settled things down by throwing strikes and that just tells you the value and importance of doing that,” Scherrman said.

The Vikings and Tigers are set to square off in Game 2 of the series at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at WW South. While Geneva will hope to keep its winning streak going, Scherrman hopes that with a little better pitching and defense, WW South will ride the confidence to pull out a couple of wins to end the series.

And the Tigers sure do have some confidence.

“We’re not going to quit, no matter what the score is,” Maranell said. “And I think that we’re going to win this series.”