Chigas helps Oak Lawn clip Cardinals

Nick Synowiecki of Oak Lawn tags out Eisenhower's Sergio Diaz.
(Art Vassy/SouthtownStar)

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Chris Chigas doesn’t possess an overpowering fastball or devastating arsenal of breaking pitches.

What the junior left-hander does possess is a deep knowledge of pitching.

Up and down, inside and outside — he works all angles of the plate with all four of his pitches.

If that’s not enough to leave opposing hitters scratching their heads, he alters the release point of his pitches, sometimes throwing over the top, other times three-quarters.

It’s no wonder Chigas is 5-0 with a minuscule 1.05 ERA. His latest victim was a baffled Eisenhower squad, which registered one paltry hit in succumbing to host Oak Lawn 6-0 on Monday.

Along the way, Chigas fanned 10 Cardinals, as the Spartans improved to 17-3 overall and 9-1 in the South Suburban Conference. Eisenhower fell to 9-12, 5-5.

“I get ahead in the count and work my offspeed pitches in the dirt,” said Chigas, who has struck out at least 10 in three straight starts.

The only hit the Cardinals registered came off the bat of Rob Easton to lead off the second inning. His bouncer up the middle eluded Chigas and smacked off second base on its way into short center field.

“That happens,” Chigas said. “He’s a good hitter.”

By that time, the Spartans had staked their ace to a 1-0 lead, thanks to a two-out rally in the bottom of the first.

Cardinals starter Brett Bennick struck out the first two hitters in the first inning before walking Dan Thompson on a 3-and-2 pitch. Cody Williams then drilled a hanging curveball down the left-field line for a triple and 1-0 Spartans lead.

Oak Lawn tacked on another run in the fourth. Chigas helped his own cause with a leadoff triple to center and, one out later, Tom Glover (2-for-3) sent him home with a single to left to make it 2-0.

The Spartans put the game away with two runs in each of the fifth and sixth innings. Chris Cascarano and Glover produced RBI hits in the fifth to extend the lead to 4-0. In the sixth, a bases-loaded fielder’s choice by Thompson scored Nick Synowiecki and a hustling Jim Mallek from second base to close out the scoring.

The Spartans registered five extra-base hits, which put a smile on the face of first-year coach Brian Clifton. No. 9 hitter Mark Tadla added a 2-for-3 performance for Oak Lawn.

“This is probably the first game all season we’ve had more than one extra-base hit in a game,” Clifton said. “We’ve hidden behind our pitching and defense. I hope we can continue to get some extra-base hits.”

Bennick allowed nine hits, walked one and struck out five during his five innings.

The day, however, belonged to Chigas, who struck out at least one batter in every inning, save the seventh. He surrendered two walks.

“They beat us in every aspect of the game,” Eisenhower coach Ken McNulty said. “They outhit us, outhustled us and outpitched us, and that’s tough to do. Their pitcher kept our hitters off balance. That’s a good baseball team.”