Baseball: Back healthy, Daniel Strohm shows what he can do for Geneva against Wheaton Warrenville South

GENEVA – Daniel Strohm threw only 4 2/3 innings last season before a back muscle injury derailed a promising nine-strikeout start.

He looks healthy now.

Strohm, Geneva’s senior left-hander, showcased exactly what he can bring to the Vikings rotation during their 9-3 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South on Wednesday.

Strohm escaped mostly unharmed by surrendering just one run in the first inning after loading the bases and struck out 12 over five innings as the Vikings won the first two games of the three-game DuKane Conference series.

Geneva won the first game 3-1 on Tuesday.

“What you saw was Danny today,” Geneva coach Brad Wendell said. “He struggled with location early in games. He’s had high pitch counts early in games but what we know is – if he’s in the zone, he’s really hard to hit. I think you saw that as the game progressed. When he trusts his stuff and he fills it up, he’s hard to beat.”

“When he’s in the zone, he’s super effective,” Wendell continued. “Got a little movement and [the fastball is] sneaky fast. He’s good and we’re glad he’s throwing strikes right now.”

Strohm, who said the injury was a muscle strain, prepared throughout the winter for his comeback. It was a gradual build-up back into it.

“[My approach] has been to get the defense going, throwing strikes,” said Strohm, who gave up two runs on three hits and five walks. “Let them put it in play if they can. Today I threw strikes and got people striking out.”

“We’re super happy he’s healthy,” Wendell said. “He’s one of the hardest working kids I know. He’s prepared himself well for the season to stay healthy and he’s working really hard consistently through the season here. I hope that’s going to be beneficial for us, obviously, and obviously for him.”

The Tigers (1-6, 0-5) got on the board in the first inning by loading the bases to open the ballgame. Casey Farrell hit into a fielder’s choice, scoring Jon Jensen, but Strohm minimized the damage with two strikeouts.

The Vikings (8-3, 5-0) took their first lead on a two-run double by Owen Anderson in the second inning. WW South tied it after a passed ball allowed Shane Szudarski to score from third in the top half of the third.

Geneva responded with with a double by Blake Stempowski (3-for-4, RBI) and a sacrifice bunt from Daniel Alworth to set the table for a passed ball from Tigers pitcher Bear Awadzi to score Stempowski and the Vikings’ 3-2 lead.

The Vikings then tacked on four runs in the fifth inning on an RBI double from Stempowski, a wild pitch to score Nate Stempowski, an RBI groundout by Alworth and another wild pitch by relief pitcher Brady Lee to score Ryan Huskey.

Awadzi’s outing ended at 4 2/3 innings pitched, seven runs (five earned), eight hits and five strikeouts.

Nate Stempowski (2-for-4, RBI) added an RBI single in the sixth as did Carson Sprague to pad the Vikings’ run total. WW South’s Farrell pushed across an RBI groundout in the seventh for the Tigers’ third and final run.

“Bear’s build-up has been a little slower than most pitchers this year,” Wheaton South coach John Scherrman said. “So he’s been limited on pitch count compared to maybe a guy who has been throwing from day one and hasn’t missed a little time. I think he just got tired because his pitches haven’t been even that 80-75 number yet. Ran out of gas.”

“Our bullpen is pretty short right now, so we had to give him a couple batters or two more than what we would’ve liked,” Scherrman continued. At the same time, too, if we make a couple plays defensively, he’s out of there.”