Baseball: Lincoln-Way West outlasts Minooka

Kaleb Wilkey’s grand slam secures win for Indians

Lincoln-Way West’s Kaleb Wilkey scores on a wild pitch against Minooka. Friday, April 15, 2022, in New Lenox.

NEW LENOX – The ride hasn’t been smooth for the Lincoln-Way West baseball team recently.

But those experiences may have allowed the Warriors to better deal with all of the twists and turns Friday morning’s nonconference matchup with Minooka provided.

As such, the Warriors were able to respond with a five-run bottom of the fifth inning to carry them to a 12-10 victory.

It was a welcome change from the previous day for the Warriors, who held a five-run lead over Lockport and needed to record only four more outs but were unable to hang on in a 14-13 loss.

“Coming back off that loss last night, today was sort of like deja vu,” Lincoln-Way West coach Jake Zajc said. “We jump ahead and bounce back, and it was sort of like that game. Last night we didn’t make enough plays. But today we made three nice catches in the outfield in the last innings to secure that win. It’s a good feeling to go from one to the next and prove to our guys that the hard work will pay off as long as we start making plays.”

Zajc pointed out the notable defensive plays made by his outfield in the late innings with a swirling wind that wreaked havoc on every defender’s ability to make what ordinarily would be considered routine plays.

Between walks, well-hit baseballs and some not-so-well-hit baseballs that fell for hits anyway, both teams had an army of base runners at their disposal almost every inning. The teams combined for 38 base runners, and both squads capitalized on almost all of their scoring chances.

Minooka started with a three-run first inning, getting doubles from Mike Murphy and Andrew Mack to build the early cushion. Lincoln-Way West got one back in its half of the first but waited until the third to make a real impact.

Walks loaded the bases before Laz Liriano connected for an RBI single, and Cooper Burkel drove home two more with a triple. The first seven batters of the inning reached, with six of them eventually scoring to give Lincoln-Way West a 7-3 lead.

Lincoln-Way West’s Harrison Scroggins makes a throw to first against Minooka. Friday, April 15, 2022, in New Lenox.

The deja vu that Zajc spoke of struck with full force over the next two innings, as Minooka put up three runs in both the fourth and fifth innings to give the Indians new life and a new lead of 9-7.

Minooka pitching woes led to the Warriors loading the bases with one out, and an Aiden Healy infield hit pulled the Warriors to within 9-8. Warriors slugger Cole Crafton struck out for the second out, and the Indians appeared close to wriggling off the hook, but Kaleb Wilkey wouldn’t let them, swatting a pitch over the right field fence for a grand slam.

“The beginning of the at-bat I was looking off-speed because that’s just what I thought they were going to throw,” Wilkey said. “But they started me off with two fastballs, and I heard their coaches say just throw strikes, so I knew another fastball was going to come, and I got it.”

Minooka’s Mitch Thomas doubles against Lincoln-Way West. Friday, April 15, 2022, in New Lenox.

Wilkey’s slam put Lincoln-Way West up 12-9, but as the Warriors learned, nothing is guaranteed. Minooka started its half of the sixth with a double from Mike Murphy, which led to Lincoln-Way West going to the bullpen again (each team used four pitchers in the game) and finally finding some consistency in the form of Reagan King.

King allowed Murphy to score, but more importantly gave up no more walks and allowed only two hits in the final two innings, both of which he stranded to secure the wild win.

“As coaches, you look at it, it’s midseason, and you want your guys to be going out there and executing,” Zajc said. “But sometimes you have to take a step back. This actually is our first game at home, and it’s been a difficult season with that. We’re just trying to work our way through it. We haven’t really found a rhythm yet. We knew coming out here that some crazy stuff would likely happen, but we just needed to be sure we didn’t turn one mistake into two and keep battling.”