By Drake Skleba
For the Bugle
The Hilltoppers of Joliet Catholic Academy’s “Road Trip” to Indianapolis, Indiana, to play in the prestigious Prep Baseball Report’s Midwest Classic, was a rousing success on Friday the 13th. Traveling eastbound on I-80 and then southbound on I-65, the Hilltoppers had a 2:30 p.m. date with Washington High School of Massillon, Ohio, in Westfield, Indiana.
Joliet Catholic 12, Massillon (O.) Washington 2 (Five innings)
JCA (7-3) crushed “The Buckeye State’s Massillon Washington Tigers (10-5), led by Tony Fleischauer and Greg Ziegler, who each clubbed out three hits and drove home three Hilltopper runs. Aidan Tyrell chipped in with a 3-hit afternoon and Alex Vera fired a three-hitter, with six strikeouts, to pick up the win on the mound.
JCA 6 Cathedral (IN) 4
The Hilltoppers were led by Simon Grashoff, Tony Fleischauer, Aidan Tyrell and Zach Gould, in their second win of the day, over the host Fighting Irish. Grashoff drove in two big Hilltopper runs while Fleischauer, had another three-hit day at the plate. Tyrell pitched 6 1/3 solid innings on the mound while the closer Gould, nailed down the save for Tyrell.
SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN BLUE
Lockport 13, Bolingbrook 0 (4 ½ innings)
CJ Weins (3-0) and John Weis, pitched and hit the Porters (11-1, 2-0), past the Raiders (1-9, 0-2) on Friday at historic Ed Flink Field. Weins and Weis, each drove home three Porter runs. Weins struck out seven in his four shutout innings, on the mound. Weis finished up the shutout, with a scoreless inning in the fifth. Josh Bentley chipped in with a pair of Porter RBIs, while Collin Woulfe had a two-hit day.
INTERSTATE 8 CROSSOVERS
Peotone 2, Westmont 0
The Sentinels (7-5, 1-3) lost another I-8 crossover game to the Blue Devils (3-3, 2-2). Robbie Burns and Chad Johnson had the two hits for Westmont. Christian Anderson went the distance on the mound for the Sentinels, allowing just two runs and four hits, with four strikeouts.
NONCONFERENCE
Plainfield East 6, Yorkville 5
The Bengals (11-2) scored three in the fifth to tie the game at 5-5 and then added the game-winner in the top of the sixth. Andy Hoffman led the Bengals with two hits and two RBI while Frank Bryan and Dalton Crowder, each drove home a Bengal run.
Joliet Central 4, Shepard 3
The Steelmen (7-5) trailed 3-1 as the nonconference game with the Astros, went to the bottom of the sixth. The Steelmen scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game at 3-3 and won it in the bottom o the seventh in walk-off style by Fabian Raquena. Happy Steelmen fans were last seen dancing on Collins Street after the game.
Jared King drove home a Steelmen run and Steelmen closer, turned winner, Carlos Garcia struck out two of the four Astro hitters, he faced to pick up the win.
West Aurora 8, Benet Academy 6
The Redwings (4-6) fell behind 8-2 and rallied within 8-6, before falling in a nonconference game in Aurora on Friday. Jared Novak drove home a pair of Redwing runs while Sam Cibulka and Nick Hoeppel had an RBI. Drake Hoffner, chipped in with a two-hit day for the Redwings.