Baseball: Joliet West finishes sweep of rival Joliet Central

Hogan leads Tigers to third victory this week over Steelmen

Joliet West’s Conner Hogan delivers a pitch against Joliet Central on Thursday, May 11, 2023 in Joliet.

JOLIET – Conner Hogan wanted to finish it off.

That’s exactly what the 6-foot, 8-inch lefty did. He fired a complete game shutout and, as has been the case lately, the offense scored a lot of runs as Joliet West completed a week-long sweep of crosstown rival Joliet Central with a 10-0 win in six innings in the final game of the three-game Southwest Prairie Conference series at Duly Medical Group Field/Slammers Stadium.

Cael Karczewski added four RBI in the seventh straight victory for the Tigers (19-9, 9-3), who have outscored their opponents 71-15 in that span. It was the sixth straight loss for the Steelmen (9-20, 2-10).

“Yes, I wanted to finish it,” Hogan said of the complete game. “But because of the length of the fifth and six innings, I wasn’t going to go out for the bottom of the sixth. I told Coach [John Karczewski] that I wanted to go back out. But it was actually [pitching coach] Tyler Brown that convinced him to let me.”

Joliet West broke the game open with five runs in the top of the fifth and another two in the sixth, and left the bases loaded in both innings, slowing down what had previously been a speedy game.

But Hogan didn’t. He finished with a three-hit shutout, and thanks to a pickoff at first and a double play, only faced one batter over the minimum. He walked none and struck out four.

“My goal isn’t to strike out everyone, it’s to get outs,” Hogan said. “All three of my pitches were working, but especially my change-up, as it has been all season.

“I’ve pitched here many times, but this was our first game here this season. It was the best day weather-wise of the year. But our bus was a little late, so I had to rush a little in warm-ups and I didn’t feel like I was loose until the middle innings. But I’m glad I finished it off. This is my longest complete game of the season. The others were five innings. I wanted to finish it because it was here, against Joliet Central, and keeps us going.”

Junior James Love started the scoring with an RBI single to right in the first. Karczewski kept it going with an RBI groundout in the second for the first of his four RBIs. The junior shortstop added a run-scoring single to right in the fourth to make it 3-0. He had another RBI single, this one to left, in the five-run fifth, and he capped his day with a bases-loaded walk in the sixth.

Not bad for someone who bats ninth in the lineup.

“To get four RBIs felt good, and that’s the first time I’ve done that this year,” Karczewski said. “Batting ninth is where I hit last year. I just want to get on base for [leadoff man] Joe Lukancic and the other guys to drive me in.

“We’ve just been hitting and pitching well, especially when Conner is on the mound. I expect us to continue our momentum and make a good run.”

Junior second baseman Jimmy Anderson, who bats eighth, was 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI single in the sixth. Junior left fielder Christian Chignoli was 1-for-3 with an RBI, a walk and two runs scored.

Senior designated hitter Zackry Tarrant entered the game in the third inning and was hit by a pitch. But he had an RBI single and scored a run on an error in the fifth. Senior center fielder Angelo Spoto walked and scored a run on a steal of home in a rundown play in the fifth.

Parker Schwarting, a junior first baseman, along with senior pinch-hitters Ayden Lasson and Aiden Solorzano, also had singles for the Tigers.

Xavier Brass, a speedy junior left fielder, had two hits for Joliet Central. One was a perfect bunt up the third-base line in the third inning, and the other was a line-drive single to right center in the sixth. Senior starting pitcher Zach Riley also singled to lead off the second for the Steelmen, who never had a runner reach second base.

“Zach pitched a good game, and he always does,” Joliet Central coach Kevin Fitzgerald said. “But we made some mental errors and they pounced on them. We have to be able to put hits together and score some runs, and we weren’t able to do that.

“But Joliet West is a good team, and they have no selfish players out there. They are always in the game and picking each other up.”

It helps to have Hogan on the hill too.

“Conner pounded the zone and they put it in play,” coach Karczewski said. “If he limits his walks and keeps his pitch count down, we’ll be right there.”