Oswego East Advances in IHSA Baseball Playoffs

Bolingbrook’s bats went cold at the worst possible time—in the first game of the IHSA 4A Hinsdale Central Regional against Oswego East.

Bolingbrook managed only two hits in the 7-1 loss, which ended the Raiders' season.

Oswego East advances to face Downers Grove South on Thursday at 4:30 p.m.

The Wolves (10-19) used a five-run sixth inning to blow open a 2-1 game and rode a pitching gem from junior pitcher Matt Schultz, who threw five innings of two-hit baseball while fanning seven Bolingbrook batters.

“We did a really nice job executing today,” said Oswego East head coach Jim Vera. “We got a really good effort from Matt today. That’s a kid coming back from Tommy John surgery.”

Bolingbrook got off to a good start. Raiders' sophomore pitcher Steve Waldrop retired the side in the first inning, then sophomore shortstop Kyle Nadres walked in the bottom half and stole three bases, including home, to give Bolingbrook an early 1-0 lead. 

“The catcher was pretty wild, so I was taking advantage of it,” Nadres said. “I was stealing bases so we could score and get that motivation.”

Oswego East, however, strung together a couple of hits in the second inning to tie the game. In the third, Wolves senior first baseman Eric Egan nailed a fastball for a home run, giving Oswego East a 2-1 edge, which ultimately proved to be enough.

In the sixth, Egan hit a two-run double to put the Wolves ahead 4-1.

“I kind of knew [Waldrop] would throw me a curveball because I hit a bomb off his fastball for the home run,” Egan said. “I was thinking curve and I took it to right field.”

Oswego East shortstop Mike Cherven, junior pinch hitters Zack DiZillo and Matt Miller each had RBI hits to conclude the scoring.

“We preach putting the ball in play, then we had our big inning,” Vera said. “Sometimes we are too aggressive where we have some bad base-running plays. We saw him a couple times.”

Bolingbrook head coach Chris Malinoski said his team played well most of the season and is excited to have a big group of sophomores and juniors returning for 2012.

“It’s nice to have a good nucleus of seven sophomores and some juniors for next year,” Malinoski said. “We have a good nucleus for the next two years.

"To have our core pitching staff together [only one departing senior], we should be all right. I’m excited for what the future holds on the varsity level and the program as a whole.” 

Senior third baseman Ryan Sulzen said the program has gone forward from single-digit winning season to now, where many young players are gaining experience.

“We have a lot of young guys here and they are good,” said Sulzen, who will try out for Joliet Junior College’s team next year. “I’m going to miss them. I’m going to miss everything. I’m going to miss the coaches, the players, being out here every day. It’s been a blast.”