Baseball: Joe Onasch, Nate Harris homers rally Yorkville from six runs down to beat Oswego

OSWEGO – Joe Onasch had not played in a game in over a month, and the Yorkville senior didn’t even get into Monday’s until a double switch.

So yes, he held modest expectations for his sixth inning at-bat in a tie game.

[ Photos: Oswego vs. Yorkville baseball ]

“I was just trying to be selective, find my pitch and drive it,” Onasch said. “That’s the first strike I’ve seen in five weeks.”

He didn’t miss it.

Onasch’s two-run homer with none out in the sixth – the third long ball of the day – came from a most unlikely source, and proved the game-winner. Kentucky commit Nate Harris earlier slugged a tying grand slam as visiting Yorkville rallied from a six-run deficit to beat Oswego 8-7 in the first of a three-game Southwest Prairie West series.

The Foxes (13-9, 5-2), who trailed 6-0 after two innings, are getting accustomed to these stunning comebacks. Last Monday, Yorkville came back from seven runs down to beat Minooka on a Harris walk-off homer.

“It shows the resiliency of our team,” Harris said. “That next man up mentality, everybody willing to do what it takes across the bench to help a team win. The comeback, it was awesome, a great feeling.”

Onasch, ineligible for five weeks, had only got into four games this season before Monday. Yorkville coach Tom Cerven planned to try to get him an at-bat and ease him back into the lineup this week, but had to get creative with some strategies when Foxes’ starting pitcher Carter Schaffner didn’t make it out of the second inning.

It all worked out with Onasch’s first homer of the year. Oswego’s cavernous park rarely serves up home runs, and Onasch for one wasn’t expecting his ball to carry out.

“I thought it was going to be another rim raiser double,” Onasch said. “I didn’t think it was going over.”

The same could not be said of Harris’ homer the inning prior.

With the bases loaded and none out after Jackson Roberts and Daniel Rodriguez singles, and Yorkville trailing 6-2, Harris lined a full-count fastball well over the fence in center. Harris hustled out of the box, an unnecessary reaction for the no-doubt shot he launched.

“It was right on the barrel, right on the nose,” Harris said. “I can’t say I was expecting fastball in that situation, but lucky I got one. It’s a pretty deep field, but if you get ahold of one, it will go over.”

Especially with the power Harris possesses, which his coach is used to by now.

“Depending on which way the wind is blowing, it can definitely be a monstrous ballpark,” Cerven said. “But he got every bit of the ball, there is no disputing it.”

The notion of a Yorkville comeback would have been well in dispute after Oswego’s six-run second inning. The Panthers (13-8-1, 4-3) took advantage of five walks, a hit batter and two wild pitches, and Dylan King’s three-run homer made it 6-0.

But the Panthers couldn’t capitalize on baserunners the next four innings, and Oswego ace Noah Mottet had his own command issues in a game in which the two teams combined to walk 14 batters.

“We just didn’t capitalize in the middle innings when we needed to put more runs on them and pressure them,” Oswego coach Joe Giarrante said. “We walked the leadoff batter three innings in a row and that is never going to lead to success. Mottet wasn’t as sharp as he usually is and we didn’t take advantage of opportunities.”

Oswego had one more chance in the seventh, putting the first two runners on off Preston Regnier, Yorkville’s third pitcher, trailing 8-6.

After a sacrifice bunt, RBI groundout and a walk, Regnier got Oswego leadoff hitter Kam Jenkins on a fly out to center with the tying run at third.

Regnier, continuing to be a revelation on a Yorkville pitching staff beset by injuries, allowed just one run in three innings of relief, striking out the side in the sixth.

“He has definitely emerged,” Cerven said. “He has just been a guy that whenever things are going south quickly we throw in and he’s able to stop the bleeding and regroup and work our way back. Can’t say enough about the job he’s done.”