Baseball: Lisle rallies past Aurora Central Catholic

Updated: April 4, 2012 9:32PM

The one thing Lisle’s baseball team has been missing so far this season is a comeback win.

The Lions can cross that off of their list after rallying from a 4-0 deficit in the top of the first for an 11-6 nonconference win over Aurora Central Catholic Wednesday.

Lisle scored three runs in the fourth to take a 7-6 lead and put the game away with a four-run sixth to improve to 9-4 on the season, a day before its Interstate Eight opener against Manteno.

“We haven’t done that this year yet,” Lisle coach Pete Meyer said. “We’ve been waiting for that to happen, don’t quit, don’t give in and just keep chipping away. It’s a great win when you can come back. I don’t care if you’re down four in the first or four in the seventh, you have to come back.”

ACC (4-6-1) got off to a great start. Despite a persistent wind howling in all day, the Chargers jumped out with four runs on four hits in the top of the first. Matt Miller doubled in a run and scored and Phil Schuetz singled in a run and scored as part of that rally.

The momentum was short-lived, however, as Lisle wasted no time getting back into the game. Nick Olson delivered a two-run single and scored in the bottom of the first to cut the lead to 4-3. ACC built the lead back up to 6-4 thanks to a two-run single from Shawn Soris in the second.

Lisle then completed its climb to the lead in the fourth. A two-run, two-out single from Adam Grego gave the Lions a 7-6 lead that they would never relinquish.

ACC tried to tie it back up in the fifth, but Lisle kept its momentum in dramatic fashion. Schuetz led off with a single, but was gunned down at the plate to end the inning by Lisle center fielder Ryan Van Volkenburg, firing up his teammates and giving them the fuel they needed to finish off the win.

“That’s huge because not only does the whole field get involved and happy, but the whole bench gets involved,” Van Volkenburg said. “That’s when we started getting more excited. It just turned events around because we were all happy.”

Chargers coach Eric Fulara lamented the fact that his team was held scoreless the final five innings by Olson, who improved to 1-0 by saving the Lions in relief. He was also upset with the three unearned runs his team allowed in the sixth that put the game away.

“They chipped away,” Fulara said. “We kept them around, our bats got cold. We just couldn’t put anything together. The good thing about baseball is that you get to play tomorrow. High school baseball is a marathon, not a sprint. Your goal is to be playing June 2 in Peoria (at the state tournament). That’s the goal. I’ll stay positive as much as I can.”

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