Joliet West baseball’s second-half surge continues with win over Romeoville

JOLIET – At one point this season, Joliet West‘s record stood at 2-11.

That version of the Tigers doesn’t seem to exist anymore.

The much-improved version of the team has been on an absolute tear as of late, winning 11 of its last 14 games, including a 3-1 win over Romeoville on Monday.

“We knew it was going to take some time,” Joliet West coach John Karczewski said. “These guys were inexperienced, and they kind of found their groove and are starting to do the little things, things that we weren’t doing at the beginning of the year.”

Joliet West (11-14, 6-1 Southwest Prairie East) got all three of its runs in the fourth inning in a slightly unconventional way.

Zach Chignoli started off the inning by coaxing a walk out of Romeoville starter Jonny Lee. Joe Durak followed with a clean single before Sean Hogan dropped down a beautiful bunt that was designed to be a sacrifice but turned into a single when no Romeoville player could field it promptly.

Payton Barborek tied the score at 1-1 with an RBI groundout, but Lee coaxed a pop-up for the second out of the inning and seemed to be on his way to getting out of the jam without further damage, but Quintin Guardia connected for one of the softest hits of the day.

So soft that it turned into a difficult play for any Romeoville defender to make. Guardia legged it out for an infield hit, and the attempt to throw him out went awry, allowing two runs to score and giving Joliet West a 3-1 lead.

That was all the run support that Joliet West starter Ryan Lasson was going to need.

Lasson was spectacular keeping Romeoville’s offense from generating much of any threat.

The Spartans (13-11, 4-3) scratched out a run in the third inning after Nolan Delgado rapped a single – one of his three hits in the game – stole second and came around to score on a two-out infield single from Karlos Otero.

That was one of just three innings where Romeoville managed to send more than four batters to the plate, and in all three of those frames Lasson faced only five in a complete-game masterpiece.

Lasson struck out only three but was backed by a stellar defense – particularly the play of right fielder Peyton Barborek. Barborek snared a missile off the bat of Romeoville pinch hitter Ryan Uscila that squelched a potential rally in the sixth and ran down a ball that could have split the gap in the seventh.

“First inning was a little rough,” Lasson said. “I couldn’t get the curveball over, but the coaches gave me a few adjustments, and I was able to land that for strikes.

“We just need to keep doing what we’re doing; we don’t need to change anything. We’re doing well right now.”