Prep Baseball Report

No. 12 Oak Park blanks No. 10 Glenbrook South



By Sean Duncan

GLENVIEW – No. 10 Glenbrook South vs. No. 12 Oak Park-River Forest. Sounds like a great early-season matchup, right?

Not quite.

Oak Park looked in mid-season form Wednesday, as the Huskies cruised to a 6-0 road victory in the team’s season-opener.

Oak Park (1-0) unveiled three unsigned senior pitchers who combined to hold Glenbrook South (1-1) to three hits. More impressively for coach Chris Ledbetter was his club only allowed the Titans to reach second base once, and that was in the third inning.

Senior right-hander Joe McKune pitched five sharp innings, holding his 84-85 mph fastball throughout while mixing in two breaking balls, including a sharp 77-78 mph slider. All told, McKune allowed three hits and no walks. He struck out four, and at one point between the third and fifth innings, he retired eight straight batters.

"First day out and I felt good," said McKune. "My fastball was working well. ... It's just good to back and it's a good start to the season."

Two relief pitchers picked up where McKune left off.  Senior left-hander Max Guzzetta worked a clean sixth inning, and senior right-hander Michael Brennan struck out the side in the seventh to kick-start the Huskies' 2012 season. Brennan pounded the zone with his 83-84 mph fastball while mixing in a solid breaking ball.

"I was pleased with Joe," said Ledbetter. "There was a specific reason why I put Joe on the mound today. For the past two years I thought he had dynamic stuff.

"He seemed really poised today."

The perennially tough Huskies, which were playing without their standout catcher, Purdue-bound Jack Picchiotti, broke open a scoreless tie against Glenbrook South junior left-hander Kyle Pauly in the top of the fourth, when it pushed three runs across behind four hits. Daine Mrozek and Jack Belcaster, the No. 8 and 9 hitters, each delivered RBI singles in the inning. Then Zach Weigel, a Seton Hall recruit, laced a run-scoring double to stake the Huskies to a 3-0 advantage. Weigel, a left-handed hitting outfielder, finished 2-for-3 with a run scored, RBI and reached base three times.

The Huskies put the game out of reach in the seventh with three more runs. Brennan rapped a run-scoring single and Michael Adams delivered a sacrifice fly in the inning.