No. 26 Minooka Repeats as WJOL Area Invite Champ: For the second straight year, the Minooka Indians and the Lockport Porters met in the WJOL Area Invite Championship Game at Silver Cross Field in Joliet. Minooka (8-1) once again came out on top, this time by a 5-2 decision, winning consecutive WJOL Area Invite championships.

 

Junior SS/P Blaise Grebic hit a two-run homer and pitched the seventh inning to record the save for starting and winning pitcher, sophomore LHP Josh Jiminez (2-0), as the Indians became the first two-time winner of the five-year-old tournament.

 

Jimenez allowed one earned run and scattered four hits. Jiminez fanned six Porter hitters.

Minooka senior Don Vogrin tripled and doubled and drove home a run for the victorious Indians.

 

University of Texas-bound Mike Foltynewicz won his second consecutive WJOL Area Invite Most Valuable Player Award. The No.1-ranked senior had six hits in the tournament, including two home runs and nine RBIs. Foltynewicz picked up a win in an 11-0 rout of JCA on Thursday. The talented senior threw five shutout innings while striking out seven. His fastball was consistently clocked in the 94-96 mph range in the early innings.

 

In the semifinals, Minooka defeated Joliet 3-1 at Minooka. Senior RHP John Pershey improved to 3-0 on the season, allowing one run and six hits in 6 2/3 innings of work. Foltynewicz singled home the first Indian run and stole home for the second Indian run.

 

Joliet (3-4) scored their lone run when Illinois State-bound senior catcher Mike Hollenbeck walked with the bases loaded in the seventh. Minooka junior RHP Spencer Lehman would put out the fire to record the save for Pershey.

 

In the other semifinal, at Minooka, Lockport scored four times in the bottom of the seventh to stun No. 8 Providence 6-5. Senior Josh Johnson’s single to center was the game winner and sent Lockport (4-2) into the championship game against Minooka (7-1). Junior RHP Mike Grindstaff (1-0) went all the way to pick up the win for the Porters. Grindstaff allowed one earned run as the Porters committed six errors in the game.

 

No. 2 St. Rita routed No. 17 St. Laurence 19-9, in a nonconference game Saturday. Junior Joey Filomeno pitched and hit the Mustangs past their rivals from Burbank. Filomeno was 3-for-3 with a two-run homer, his third of the season, and drove in four runs. The hard-throwing junior notched the win on the mound to improve to 2-1 on the season. Sophomore Stefano Belmonte also hit his third of the season, as the Mustangs hammered five dingers in the rout. Senior Mark Payton, junior Sean Kalisz and senior Anthony Zawaski also homered for the 7-1 Mustangs. For the Arizona State-bound Payton, it was his second home run of the year.

 

No. 14 Belleville West (5-2) falls to Troy-Triad in twin-bill split. After wining game one of a big nonconference doubleheader with Troy Triad, 13-3, the Southwestern Conference leaders fell behind 13-3 after two innings in the second game and lost 13-9 in the finale.

 

Senior Zach Hall (1-2) pitched and hit the Knights (6-3) to the second-game win. Hall allowed three earned runs in 6 2/3 innings of work. Hall fanned 12 and walked three. Hall also homered and drove in three. Junior SS Jake Lewis had three RBIs for the Knights and senior catcher Brett Loos chipped in with a pair of RBIs.

 

Belleville West junior standout Kane Sweeney had a pair of hits and drove in three for the Maroons.

 

In game one, Belleville West starting pitcher Sweeney went 4-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs. He struck out six in three innings of work on the mound. Junior Max Turner had three hits and drove home a pair and senior Tony Kossina added two hits and two RBIs for the victorious Maroons. Senior LHP Sean Hulse picked up the win in relief of Sweeney. Hulse allowed no earned runs in four innings of relief to improve to 2-1 on the season.

 

No. 23 St. Ignatius rode the bats of seniors Justin Meier and Jack Fischer to a 16-6 clubbing of St. Joseph. Meier had a 4-for-4 day with three RBIs and Fischer homered and had three hits and four RBIs for the Wolves (5-1).

 

Richards senior Jon Ryan hammered a three-run homer and winning pitcher Carlos Rodriguez improved to 2-1, as the Bulldogs blasted No.16 Brother Rice 7-1. Rodriguez allowed one hit and struck out seven for Richards (5-4). Brother Rice falls to 5-3.

 

No. 9 IVC sweeps Pennsylvania squad. The Grey Ghosts swept Meadeville Pennsylvania 15-5 and 13-3 in a nonconference twin bill on Saturday to improve to 8-0.

 

No. 37 Willowbrook (6-2; 2-0) swept Proviso East 17-1 and 14-1 in a West Suburban Gold doubleheader on Saturday. Senior RHP Steve Cox (1-1) and junior RHP Brett Buchanan (1-0) picked up the victories on the mound for the Warriors. Buchanan had a big day with his bat as well. The St. Joseph (Ind.) recruit went 5-for-6 with a pair of triples and drove home five. Junior catcher Dan Fahlgren performed even better at the plate. The hard-hitting catcher went 5-for-5 with a double, triple and drove home seven Warrior runs in the sweep of the Pirates. Circle Saturday April 10 on your calendar. On that day the Warriors will invade Downers Grove to face No.5 Downers Grove South in a monster WSC Gold twin-bill at 2 p.m.

 

Rain cancelled out many other games on Saturday. Have a score and highlights to report, email [email protected] .