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NEW LENOX – Lincoln-Way West‘s pitching staff wasn’t at its peak form over the first couple of innings during Friday afternoon’s rivalry matchup with Lincoln-Way East.
The Warriors walked eight batters over the first four innings, and while the Griffins weren’t fully able to capitalize on the charity, things had to change moving forward.
And Lucas Acevedo was well aware of it.
The Warriors relief pitcher promptly squelched a potentially larger rally by closing out the fourth inning with just one Lincoln-Way East run and then promptly went the rest of the way allowing just two hits and a walk.
“When I’m in relief, whether we are down or up, I’m attacking everybody,” Acevedo said. “I’ve seen in the field what their hitters can do and what they are looking for and what they can handle. And I really just come in with a plan of attack.”
Once Acevedo put the Lincoln-Way East offense on lockdown, the Lincoln-Way West (10-0) offense unlocked as well, scoring six fourth-inning runs to lead the Warriors to an 8-2 win.
Lincoln-Way West did almost nothing against Lincoln-Way East starter Jack Tamer, but he did throw a fair amount of pitches before being lifted in the fourth inning.
Tamer’s departure seemed to coincide with the Lincoln-Way West bats awakening. Connor Essenburg had the only Lincoln-Way West hit through the first three innings, but the Warriors pounced in the fourth, racking up seven hits and six runs against Tamer and a pair of Lincoln-Way East (8-2) relievers.
Anthony Vita started the inning with a single and after a strikeout, Ian Hazelip was hit by a pitch. Carson Paulus then sliced the Lincoln-Way East advantage in half with an RBI single before pinch hitter Peyton Globke put the Warriors ahead for a good with a two-run double.
“Their pitcher was doing a really nice job,” Lincoln-Way West coach Jake Zajc said. “We had a couple of times that we threatened and we couldn’t get it done, but we rely on Peyton for that. He’s one of our offensive players that has been in the mix a little bit, and told him to be ready at any time today when the situation popped up.”
Quintin Lange and Essenburg also provided RBI singles in the frame, where the Warriors sent 11 batters to the plate and pushed across its sixth run of the inning thanks to a balk.
Lincoln-Way East drew first blood in the contest with single runs in the third and fourth innings, but the Griffins started to feel the weight of not cashing in on ample scoring opportunities. In the first four innings, Lincoln-Way East left eight runners on base, with four of those in scoring position.
It could have been a larger hole that Lincoln-Way West had to dig out of, but Acevedo made sure it wasn’t.
“That’s been his role for the past few years,” Zajc said. “He’s our shortstop, but he’s then able to come in and kind of close the games. He does a very good job at that.
“All season long, we’ve had some guys have some control issues, but we’re battling through it and these outings are only going to make us better. We have pitchers getting out there, getting experience. And hopefully next time they will be a little more sharp and a little more consistent.”