Barry preserves St. Charles East's opening-day win
Eduardo Terrazas never stood a chance.
The West Aurora junior was attempting to score from second base in the top of the seventh inning Tuesday afternoon in St. Charles.
With St. Charles East clinging to a one-run lead, Brannon Barry fielded a single from medium depth in center field.
The Saints' senior fired a strike toward home plate.
The ball one-hopped perfectly into Adam Rojas' mitt.
The St. Charles East catcher applied the room-service tag, and Mick Vyzral induced a routine grounder moments later to preserve the Saints' 3-2 victory.
"The ball came off the bat really hard," Barry said of the Jacob Andalcio shot up the middle. "I was hearing, 'Four, four, four.' I came up throwing. I don't have the strongest arm, but I make up for it in speed."
"It was the kind of play late in the game that you need to make to win the game," West Aurora coach John Reeves said.
The conditions were brutally difficult for the schools' baseball season opener as frigid temperatures were further complicated by gusting winds blowing almost straight in from right-center.
"We were just trying to get a game in," Reeves said. "This is our first time outside (all spring)."
St. Charles East had three pivotal extra-base hits, all doubles driven over the heads of the Blackhawks' outfielders.
Reid Olson tied the game for the second time, 2-2 in the bottom of the third, with the first double.
Jake Rykoskey did likewise to lead off the Saints' fourth inning, and Alex Abate delivered the junior two outs later.
"We got him in and got the (game-winning) RBI," Abate said. 'The ball (pitch) was right there, hit it into the wind and it kept going."
West Aurora had taken leads of 1-0 and 2-1 in the first and third innings.
Both runs were unearned off St. Charles East right-hander Mike Boehmer, who pitched five innings to record the victory.
Kyle Warden had a run-scoring single to plate West Aurora leadoff man Mike Golich in the first.
Two innings later, after Rojas' two-out single scored Ben Smith, the Blackhawks' D.J. Varney roped a double down the left-field line to score Golich for a second time.
"The whole game I was trying to go the other way," Varney said. "The wind was blowing pretty hard from right field. Being a lefty, I was trying to put it the other way. That's where I got the pitch, on the outside."
In the nightcap of the doubleheader, St. Charles East starting pitcher Austin Regelbrugge retired 13 consecutive West Aurora batters after allowing a single to lead off the game.
The Saints scored often in the early innings to complete a sweep with their 8-1 victory.
Regelbrugge struck out five while walking one during his five innings of work.
"They were great games to get our feet wet," St. Charles East coach Len Asquini said. "I thought we overcame the conditions quite well."