No. 17 Oak Park-River Forest Takes Down Lyons Township in 6 innings

No. 17 Oak Park-River Forest and Lyons Township squared off on Monday to open up their conference series. The Huskies used multiple big innings to get the victory 13-3. 

No. 17 Oak Park-River Forest (6-1) put their foot on the gas pedal in the bottom of the second inning. Junior Dan Michaud led off the inning with a single over the first baseman, and would then be moved over on a bunt by  junior Giovanni Pamias, who would also reach base on the play. With runners on first and second, freshman Mason Philips lined a ball to left field which would be misplayed, allowing Michaud to score, to make it 2-0 at the time. With runners on second and third, senior Jared Cortez, a Milwaukee Area Tech commit, blasted a 3-run homer to left field to make the score 5-0. Senior Ethan Glossa, a Rock Valley JC commit, would come to the plate two batters later and crush a line-drive over the centerfield wall to make it 6-0. 

The Huskies would come up to bat again in the bottom of the fourth inning winning 6-1. Senior Aidan Krupp, a Notre Dame commit, delivered the big blow of the frame with the bases loaded; a double to centerfield to score Jared Cortez and Miles Kirk, making it 8-1. Dan Michaud would then hit a deep fly-ball to centerfield to score Grant Holderfield, an Indiana commit, who was tagging on the play to make it 9-1 in favor of the Huskies. Giovanni Pamias would go on to single to right field, scoring Krupp to extend their lead to 10-1. 

In the bottom of the sixth inning, needing three runs to reach the run-rule limit, the Huskies got things started with a homerun from Mason Phillips to make the score 11-3. Junior Jack Chambers would hit a sharp single to right field, followed by a walk from Cortez to put runners on first and second. Miles Kirk would step in and rip a line drive to centerfield that resulted in a triple, bringing home both Chambers and Cortez to make the score 13-3 and ending the game, via run-rule. 

Lyons Township (5-1) did damage in the sixth inning. Senior Noah Jouras, a Triton JC commit, and junior Cooper Ohlson would go on to reach base via the walk. This would then set up junior Bo Karlson, who roped a double to left field to score Jouras making it 10-2. Junior Freddy Rangel would go on to ground in to a fielder’s choice to score Ohlson and make it 10-3. 

The Huskies were led on the mound by Aidan Krupp, who went five innings only allowing three hits, an earned run while striking out 9. Krupp featured a fastball that sat 88 mph touching 89 with heavy sink in the bottom of the zone. His slider was working well for him in this outing and was hovering around 77-79 with late action. He also featured a changeup with feel for the bottom of the zone at 82-82 mph. 

Sophomore Calvin Proskey came out of the pen for the Huskies and impressed as a 2023 arm to follow thanks to a lively fastball that sat 84-87 mph with arm-side movement and sink. He also featured a sharp 11-5 breaking ball at 72-75 mph.