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No. 10 Downers Grove South Tops Oak Park River Forest

May 20, 2021
By Peter Hamot
Area Scout

No. 10 Downers Grove South squared off against Cross-Conference Oak Park River forest on a windy Thursday afternoon. Impressive pitching and a strong offensive showing put the Mustangs on top 5-0 to carry them over a solid Oak Park River Forest team. 

The Mustangs (18-2) were led on the mound by junior Ethan Patera, a Louisville commit. The right-hander went 6 innings and only allowed 2 hits while striking out 9 and battled through five walks to pick up the win for Downers Grove South. Patera featured a lively fastball that sat 92-94 mph touching 95 mph early on, settling in at 89-94 mph later in the game. His go-to secondary offering, which wasn’t needed much, was a slider thrown at 79-82 mph with sharp 10/4 action. He also featured a changeup at 83 mph that was kept down in the zone with arm-side movement. 

The Mustangs led off the bottom of the fifth inning with a solo blast off the bat of senior Matt Scolan, a Wisconsin-Whitewater commit to make it 4-0 at the time. Senior Cole Warehime, a Southeast Missouri State commit, would come up a few batters later and single on a hard ground-ball to the shortstop to set up senior Noah Edders, a Bradley commit; Edders would go on to rip a single to center-field to score Warehime and make it 5-0 Downers Grove South. 

Downers Grove South added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Edders drew a walk and senior AJ Taylor singled to put runners on first and second with 1 out. Maxx Palenik would go on to lay down a bunt to advance the runners but a defensive miscue scored both Edders and Taylor to make it 3-0 at the time. 

Senior Joe Cosenza, a College of DuPage CC commit, drove in a run in the bottom of the first after ripping a single to center-field to score Scolan, who singled earlier in the inning. 

Oak Park River Forest (13-5) handed the ball to sophomore Calvin Proskey. Proskey impressed with a fastball that sat 85-87 mph early on, settling in at 83-86 mph later in the game. Curveball was his secondary pitch of choice this game, thrown at 72-75 mph with late 11/5 action, which he tunneled well off his fastball. He also featured a changeup thrown at 79 mph with sinking action and feel for the bottom of the zone. Proskey continues to establish him as a young uncommitted right-handed arm to keep close tabs on moving forward.

Joey Turek, a Saint Ambrose commit, finished the game off in the seventh inning for the Mustangs after striking out the first batter he faced, then inducing a game-ending double play a couple batters later. Turek featured a fastball from a low ¾ arm-slot that sat 83-86 mph with arm-side life. 

For more in-depth notes from the games - and all other games that we cover - visit the Illinois Scout Blog.

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