Lincoln-Way East puts it all together in toppling Providence

FRANKFORT – Lincoln-Way East has gotten fairly accustomed to getting a strong effort out of its pitching staff.

And it got yet another one on Wednesday in its nonconference matchup with Providence.

But it added another piece to that arsenal as well as a potent offense showed up too as the Griffins rolled to a 10-0, five-inning victory.

“Obviously, Providence is a very, very talented team and well coached ball club so to see Tyler (Osmanski) come out and put up some zeros that was really energizing for the group,” Lincoln-Way East coach John McCarthy said. “And then I thought we did a good job of extending leads and getting the two-out hit.”

Those two-out hits came in a flurry in the third inning for Lincoln-Way East (17-4) where huge two-out knocks were provided by Casey Mikrut (three hits), Jacob Newman (two hits) and Tyler Hudik. Those hits quickly turned a 3-0 Griffin lead into a 6-0 advantage.

“I think we just came into this game more confident,” Mikrut said. “We were more fluid today, everyone was just flowing one after another. And I think that approach really worked out well.”

The Griffins sent 10 men to the plate in the breakthrough inning and set the tone for an effort where all but one spot in the lineup accounted for either multiple hits or at least one run scored.

“We can always rely on our pitching,” Mikrut said. “But when our bats and pitching are going, it is great.”

Lincoln-Way East tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the fourth as a trio of Providence pitchers couldn’t keep the Griffins from attack mode.

Providence (15-7) never seemed to get a handle on Osmanski. The Celtics collected just four hits, including two doubles from Bryce Tencza, but Osmanski wiggled out of his lone spot of trouble in the fourth (a bases loaded jam) by inducing a pop out.

“I just have to throw strikes, get it over the plate,” Osmanski said. “Let my guys in the field do the work that they do.”

Osmanski departed two outs short of a complete game, giving way to Mikrut to close out the victory over the defending Class 4A state champions and a nice feather in the cap for the Griffins as they hit the stretch run of the regular season.

“That’s a big win,” Osmanski said. “We were looked down upon to start the year but I think that’s a big win and it really proves ourselves right there.”