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No. 4 St. Rita outlasts No. 29 Oak Park in Bajenski Opener

April 2, 2015

By Drake Skleba
Senior Writer

OAK PARK - In a Fourth Annual Steven M. Bajenski Memorial Tournament first-round battle, the fourth-ranked Mustangs of St. Rita outlasted the 29th-ranked Huskies of Oak Park-River Forest 9-6, on a beautiful 74-degree Wednesday afternoon. In a game where 11 of the 15 runs scored were unearned, both coaches felt something positive was achieved for their respective teams, two of the most respected programs in Illinois high school baseball.

St. Rita (10-0) picked up eight unearned runs from the charitable host Huskies. Tennessee-bound right-hander Tyler Halas, improved to 3-0 on the mound allowing six runs, three earned, on eight hits, in his six innings. At the plate the future Volunteer fell a homer shy of hitting for the cycle. Halas tripled in the second, doubled in the sixth and had a single in the Mustang six-run fifth inning. All six Mustang runs in the inning were unearned.

“I was struggling on the mound locating my pitches today,” Halas said. “In the middle innings I started getting command and pitched well. I had a first-pitch fastball approach at the plate and hit fastballs on all three of my hits. We took advantage of their mistakes to come out of here with a good win. We’re really happy about the 10-0 start but we have to keep it in perspective and focus on our next practice and next game.”

Oak Park (2-2) jumped out in front in the bottom of the first inning when Huskie junior shortstop Andrew Hennings, hit a laser over the left field fence for a 1-0 Huskie lead. The Mustangs tied the game, scoring an unearned run in the top of the second. Oak Park juniors Evan Bell (2-for-3, 2 2B, 3RBI) and Jack Fitzgerald put the Huskies back on top 3-1 with an RBI double from Bell and an RBI single from Fitzgerald.

On the mound, Oak Park starting pitcher lefty, Chris Atwood (0-1) was shutting down the hard-hitting Mustangs through three innings. In the top of the fourth, the normally solid Huskie defense faltered. St. Rita scored six unearned runs on only three hits to open up a 7-3 lead they would never relinquish. All seven runs charged to Atwood were unearned. Junior Dominic Sarro had the only Mustang RBI in the inning with his RBI double.

St. Rita picked up two runs, one unearned, to open up a 9-3 lead in the top of the fifth. Oak Park answered with three runs to close to 9-6. Bell had a two-run double and Louisville-bound Patrick Rumoro (2-for-4, RBI) singled home a run.

The never-say-die Huskies had the tying run come to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, before St. Rita’s Max Franklin retired the last Huskie hope and nail down the save for Halas.

“We gave away too many runs today,” Oak Park coach Chris Ledbetter said. “Normally we are really solid defensively but today we just couldn’t make the plays. I’m really happy with the way we battled against one of the state’s best teams. Our approach at the plate against a quality pitcher was terrific. A number of positives resulted from this tough loss.”

Senior Anthony Faron had a 3-for-4 day at the plate and Mustang junior Mateo Zunica continued his torrid hitting with two more hits, including a double.

“It’s a new group of kids trying to find themselves. They had a number of blow-out games that didn’t teach us how to play the game the right way,” St. Rita coach Mike Zunica said. “Today really helped push us in the right direction. Tyler Halas gave us a gutty performance today. Tyler didn’t have his best stuff, but battled and gave the performance a St. Rita senior should provide.” 

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