Waubonsie Valley plates four in seventh inning to secure victory against Geneva

GENEVA — Waubonsie Valley’s Nate Cerilli didn’t think he had put enough power on the ball.

With the bases loaded and just one out, the junior worked himself to a 2-0 count against Geneva’s Owen Miller. And on the third pitch, Cerilli launched the ball into centerfield.

Initially, he thought he was going to just drive in just a lone run with a sac fly. Instead, he found himself on second with a two-run double and a big smile on his face.

“At first I thought the centerfielder was going to catch it,” Cerilli said. “Then he turned around and I knew I had to keep going. It was just really cool to keep it going and hear the guys going off in the dugout.”

Cerilli’s double capped off a four-run seventh inning for the Warriors, who shut down the Vikings in the bottom half of the inning to secure a 10-6 victory Wednesday.

“We’ve played in a lot of close games so far this season, so we knew we needed to find a way to score some runs,” Warriors coach Bryan Acevedo said. “The bottom of the order picked us up there, and we were able to move the ball a bit.”

The Warriors (3-4) initially took the lead in the seventh inning after getting each of their first four batters on base. After senior Hiroshy Wong led off the inning with a double, the next three batters would each draw a walk, including junior Ryan Lucas doing so with the bases loaded to score Wong for the go-ahead score.

“We knew that we had to get our leadoff hitter on, and that’s what we did, which was huge” Acevedo said. “And the walks helped us put some more guys on.”

Cerilli gave the Warriors the lead in the sixth inning, laying down a squeeze bunt that scored junior Ryan Lucas to make it 5-4. It was their first lead of the game since putting up two runs to start the game.

“Coach mentioned that it was a squeeze situation, so I kind of expected it when I got up to bat,” Cerilli said. “The pitcher gave me a good pitch to get down, and I was happy that I got it.”

Besides Cerilli, the Warriors were led on offense by Lucas, Wong and senior Owen Roberts, who each had two hits and an RBI in the contest.

Despite the loss, Geneva (8-3) had plenty of opportunities on offense. The Vikings recorded 11 hits in the game, with sophomore Noah Hallahan leading the charge with three hits. Sophomore Mason Bruesch added two hits in the game, which included a two-run single in the sixth to tie the game at 6-6.

“We knew that we had to put the ball in play hard, especially with how the conditions were,” Vikings coach Brad Wendell said. “We knew we had to make them play defense, and that’s what happened for the most part.”

Before the final two frames, Geneva held the lead in the game from the first inning. After allowing two runs in the top half of the inning, the Vikings responded with five hits to help them build a 3-2 lead early.

“I was proud that we kept fighting back in the game and putting ourselves in a situation to be competitive and to win the game,” Wendell said. “We needed to be better in some aspects, especially later in the game. But we’re never out of it, and our kids believe that. They’ve proven it before, but it’s unfortunate that we came up short.”