Zak Horvat had seen it before.
The outside fastball.
"He threw me three outside fastballs both at-bats earlier," the Joliet cleanup hitter said. "I was looking for it."
The left-handed hitting Horvat picked on sophomore right-hander Mike Foltynewicz's fastball on the outer part of the plate and lined it down the left-field line for a double to knock in Tyler Zurliene with the decisive run Tuesday as the Steelmen blanked Minooka 2-0.
Foltynewicz was superb in the battle of two of the many teams that qualify as potential champions in this weekend's WJOL Area Baseball Invite. He took a no-hitter into the sixth inning of a scoreless deadlock, and to that point had allowed three baserunners. But with one out, Zurliene drove a ground ball up the middle. Second baseman Bryan Wellner, scurrying toward the middle, could only knock it down for an infield single.
With two out, Horvat nailed the first pitch for the double and a 1-0 lead.
"Zak has been our steadiest hitter all year," Joliet coach Terry Piazza said. "He's a strong kid, and you really can't play him because he drives the ball the other way. He'll hit it where it's pitched."
With senior right-hander Edgard Silva and junior left-hander Matt Porter keeping Minooka (3-1) off the scoreboard, Joliet (3-1) was able to win on a day when the wind was howling in from left field.
Silva went the first three innings, allowing three hits. Porter (1-0) yielded four hits over the last four innings.
"John (Karczewski, the Joliet pitching coach) has done a great job with our staff," Piazza said. "We've got guys who aren't afraid to be around the plate. Our pitchers won't overpower anyone, but they will battle you."
"Our pitchers have been amazing so far," Horvat said. "And we've gotten some hitting -- just enough to win some games."
Minooka got back-to-back singles from Jon VanAsdlen and Bryan Wellner with two outs in the first inning, but VanAsdlen, who finished with two hits, was thrown out attempting to reach third on Wellner's hit. After a two-out error in the second, Brian Martin singled, but Silva escaped further damage.
Wellner walked to lead off the fourth, but after Foltynewicz's one-out single, Joliet sophomore catcher Mike Hollenbeck gunned down Wellner attempting to steal third.
"We ran into a couple of outs on the bases, and that's not characteristic of us," Minooka coach Jeff Petrovic noted. "We had a mixup on some signs.
"But that's the nice thing about baseball, you can lose one day and get right back at it the next. The really competitive kids can't wait for 4:30 (today, when the Indians host Neuqua Valley). I know I can't wait."
Thanks to an error, Joliet did manage to get two runners aboard with two outs in the top of the fourth inning. But otherwise, there was nothing happening for the Steelmen offensively until Zurliene and Horvat delivered the first two hits off Foltynewicz in the sixth.
"It seems like every year when we play them early we take advantage of what few hits we get against them," Piazza said. "We got all our hits and runs in one inning when we played them early last year."
Of course, the Steelmen had to feel fortunate to get anything at all off Foltynewicz. The second run scored in the seventh off reliever Brian Barnes when Jose Hernandez escaped a rundown after a wide throw.
"That sophomore pitcher of theirs (Foltynewicz) is tremendous," Piazza said. "We put the ball in play against him, but we didn't hit it hard for the most part."
"Mike just pitched a great game," Petrovic said. "He's a talented young man.
"We've been getting good pitching. We haven't allowed more than two runs in a game yet. It's a shame we couldn't score any runs today."
All the wind Tuesday played into that reality.
"The wind did help the pitchers," said Porter, who hits in the leadoff spot and singled to set up Joliet's second run. "We knew if we kept throwing strikes, that our defense would get the job done behind us."
"I really thought we took the wrong approach at the plate," Petrovic said. "We rolled our hands over and hit so many ground balls to the left side. We'e better hitters than that.
"We will become the type of hitting team we think we can be when the kids buy into using the whole field. We have to do that. And if we don't, we'll keep working at it."
Battles such as Tuesday's figure to be the rule at this weekend's WJOL tournament. Friday's games will be played at 2 p.m. and 4:30 at Plainfield South. The action begins there Saturday, with the championship finals slated for Silver Cross Field.
"When the local teams play, there's no doubt any of us can beat anybody on a given day," Petrovic said. "It seems that every game winds up being exciting."
"Having played Providence, JCA and Minooka already is good preparation for the WJOL tournament," Piazza said.
"It should be a fun weekend," Porter added.
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