Team approach pays off for Shepard

Updated: April 7, 2011 4:04PM

After starting 1-5 and getting shut out 4-0 with just two hits Monday against Oak Lawn, Shepard decided some adjustments needed to be made.

"We are going to change effort and attitude," Shepard coach Frank DiFoggio said. "We had some bad losses and kids started thinking, ‘Maybe, I need to get mine.'

"We talked about how we are a team and we needed to be a team."

There was no shutting out Shepard Tuesday, as the Astros sent 16 men to the plate in the first two innings, scoring six runs toward a 12-1 win in five innings over host Oak Lawn in the South Suburban Red matchup.

A first-inning bunt summed up the Astros new look on team baseball.

"You saw team baseball with me bunting with my No. 3 hitter in the first inning with two guys on," DiFoggio said. "We are going to win as a team and lose as a team."

That No. 3 hitter was Justin Madrigal and in his first varsity sacrifice bunt attempt, the senior laid down a beauty, good enough for a single, loading the bases with no outs. A walk by John Dougherty, groundouts by Ramsey Hamdan and Matt Hoge and a single by Devin Bishop made it 4-0 Shepard (2-5, 1-1).

"We were a whole different team," Madrigal (3-for-3, 3 RBI, run) said. "We had a different approach and the scoreboard says everything."

Oak Lawn got one run back in the bottom of the first on a groundout by Bob Kametas, but would not score again. Shepard added two in the top of the second on a single by Madrigal and an infield single by Hamdan. A double by Paul Gregory (3-for-4, 3 runs, RBI) in the third made it 7-1 and doubles by David Flynn and Madrigal in the top of the fourth helped to score five, shutting the door on the Spartans.

The first inning was more than enough for Shepard pitcher Kevin Siergiej, who pitched five innings, striking out three, while giving up just three hits.

"We had a little meeting this morning and we talked about teamwork," Siergiej said. "After that first inning, we knew we had it."

Oak Lawn moved to 4-4 overall and 1-1 in conference.

"We just as a team did not show up," Oak Lawn coach Brian Clifton said. "It's like we just accepted the loss. It's embarrassing."

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