Leyden has little trouble with Niles North

Updated: May 30, 2011 8:47PM

Justin Stawychny was pleasantly surprised when Leyden coach Gary Wolf gave him the green light to take a swing at the next pitch after the Eagles’ senior had worked Niles North relief pitcher Joe Markus to a 3-0 count in the bottom of the fifth of Saturday’s Niles North Class 4A Regional Baseball championship game.

“Yeah. Wolfy gave me the green light, and that doesn’t happen very often,” Stawychny said minutes after he had taken advantage of the go-ahead from his coach to hit a walk-off, two-run homer in Leyden’s five-inning 10-0 win.

The victory advances the Eagles (27-5) to a 4:30 p.m Wednesday Sectional semifinal at Glenbrook South against either New Trier or Niles West. A game between those teams scheduled for Monday was postponed because of poor field conditions at New Trier.

With Leyden shortstop Carlos Olavarria cracking a two-run homer in the bottom of the first and Stawychny capping a seven-run fifth, Eagles’ pitcher Eric Palmer’s three-hitter, with four strikeouts and no walks, was more than

enough.

“Eric has pitched like that all year for us,” Wolf said. “He was locating all of his pitches very well. Even with a 2-0 or 3-0 lead, you feel pretty good about things when Eric is pitching.”

Palmer said he felt good on the mound right from the start of the game. “All my pitches were working today, and I know my teammates always are going to get some runs for me, so I felt confident out there,” he said.

After the two-run homer by Olavarria gave Leyden a 2-0 lead in the first inning, the Eagles added a run in the bottom of the third when Stawychny drew a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on John Marino’s base hit.

The biggest scoring threat for Niles North (15-22) came in the top of the fifth when a leadoff single by Clark Fox and a Leyden error gave the Vikings runners on first and second with nobody out. However, Fox was thrown out at third when he found himself trapped between second and third after a pitch, and Palmer then got out of the potential jam with a fly ball out and a ground out.

“That was a critical time because it was late in the game and we were down, 3-0, Niles North coach Ed Toledo said. “Their guy (Palmer) was good. We chased a few balls out of the zone, but he did a good job for them, and they are a good team.”

Leyden’s seven-run fifth inning started with three consecutive walks issued by Vikings’ pitcher Nick Lumley, who pitched well in the fourth after taking over for starter Matt Simon, but had trouble finding the strike zone in the fifth.

The Eagles used another walk, an error, a fielder’s choice and a sacrifice fly to increase their lead, before Olavarria’s two-run double off the center-field fence gave them an 8-0 lead, setting the stage for Stawychny’s game-winner.

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