Knights’ Bass mows down Joliet West batters in win

Updated: May 3, 2011 8:45PM

The last time Joliet West and Lincoln-Way Central met there were eight ties or lead changes and West took home an 11-9 victory behind a game-winning grand slam from Scott Jennings in the bottom of the sixth inning. Tuesday night at Central, both coaches were hoping for a different game than the back-and-forth slugfest in the meeting four days previous.

“We can’t make self-induced errors,” Central coach Sean Bieterman said. “West capitalized on all of them last game.”

“We need to find the strike zone from pitch one,” West coach John Karczewski said. “We walked six batters last time and that can’t happen.”

There were no lead changes in the second meeting, as Lincoln-Way Central shut out Joliet West 3-0 in the SouthWest Suburban Blue clash.

Central (11-9-1, 3-4) pitcher Brad Bass got the win on the mound, giving up two hits and one walk, while striking out eight, in five innings of work. No one told Bass about the 11 runs West (11-6-1, 4-4) put up on the Knights in the previous game.

“I wasn’t here for that game, so I don’t know anything about it,” Bass said. “I was just feeling it. Everything was going my way, curveball was looking good and fastball was working.”

A two-out double by Evan Branyik (3-for-3, run, RBI) scored David Rico in the bottom of the first to open up the scoring for Central. Tyler Gellinger would score Branyik on a single and Greg Wymer scored on a double play off the bat of Kevin Mampe in the bottom of the fourth.

Three runs would prove plenty for Central pitching.

Tom Schuman pitched the final two innings to close the game for Central, striking out four.

After striking out Mike Cicero, Schuman gave up a single to Damon Softcheck, bringing the tying run to the plate. Jeff Gersch moved runners up a base with a sacrifice bunt, but Matt Koran grounded out to end the game.

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