Baseball: Resilient Mike Virgilio leads Maine South past Fremd

Updated: April 7, 2012 4:06PM

Mike Virgilio pitched out of several jams Saturday to lead Maine South to a 5-3 victory over Fremd in Park Ridge.

Of course, the junior left-hander got himself into those predicaments in the first place, mostly by walking too many Vikings.

But Virgilio, making his second start of the season, was able to get outs when it mattered most.

“As a pitcher, you don’t want to put yourself in those situations, but I buckled down and hit my spots,” he said. “It’s good to get that kind of experience under pressure.”

Virgilio walked five, hit two batters and allowed three hits in five innings. He struck out five to pick up his second victory. His first came in relief on the Hawks’ trip to the St. Louis area.

John Forsyth fanned four and allowed one run out of the bullpen to earn the save. Maine South’s defense did its part with a perfect day in the field.

“Dynamite pitching and some clutch hitting early,” said Maine South coach Bill Milano, whose club improved to 7-3. “Mike really gutted it out of some situations.”

Jesus Saavedra gave Virgilio some room to work with his two-run double in the bottom of the third. Nick Mitrovich drove in another run with his fielder’s choice to put the Hawks up 4-0.

Fremd finally broke through against Virgilio in the fifth.

After putting the first two batters on in the second and third innings without reward, the Vikings did it again in the fifth. They cut the deficit in half with two sacrifice fly balls.

The Hawks added an insurance run on Saavedra’s single and a bad throw to take a 5-2 lead. The Vikings got one in the seventh before Forsyth struck out two to end the game.

Jason English went four in the loss that dropped the Vikings to 7-4. Eric Gile pitched the final two innings.

Notre Dame-bound Kyle Richardson hit two doubles for the Hawks.

“The key for us was we improved from last Saturday,” said Milano, whose team blew a late lead in a loss to Prairie Ridge. “That’s a great thing. (Saturday) we were able to finish.”

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