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Sports

Baseball: Evergreen Park Wins Second in a Row over Richards

Evergreen Park 6, Richards 5. A two-run triple from Josh Venhuizen in the fifth inning was the difference.

Touching All the Bases: Having won 11-7 on Monday at Richards, Evergreen Park was in the mood for another statement game on Tuesday.

Mustang first baseman Josh Venhuizen made sure Evergreen Park could complete the two-game sweep, hitting a two-run triple in the bottom of the fifth inning that proved to be the game-winner for the Mustangs in a 6-5 baseball victory.

The fight was intense up to that point, with both sides providing blows to the other. In the top of the second inning, Richards catcher Jesse Valenti got the Bulldogs on the board first with an RBI double off of Mustang starting pitcher Jesse McLain. Evergreen Park came right back with three runs in the third, capped off by an RBI single from third baseman Brian Heisterman off of Bulldog starting pitcher Jordan Julian.

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Richards got to McLain in the fourth inning. The Bulldogs scored four runs as they sent 10 batters to the plate.

In the bottom of the fourth, Evergreen Park left fielder Bobby McAvoy ripped an RBI single to make the score 5-4 Richards. This set the stage for Venhuizen’s heroics in the fifth.

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After his shaky fourth inning, McLain subdued the Richards bats in the fifth and sixth innings, and senior Dan Cronin pitched the seventh for the save.

Patch’s MVP: Evergreen Park senior first baseman Josh Venhuizen (1-for-3, 2 RBIs). Venhuizen’s clutch two-out triple in the fifth inning proved to be the game-winner.

Evergreen Park Leaders: In addition to Venhuizen, starting pitcher Jesse McLain (6 innings pitched, 4 strikeouts, 5 earned runs). Right fielder and relief pitcher Dan Cronin (1-for-3 with an RBI at the plate, pitched a perfect seventh inning for the save). Third baseman Brian Heisterman (2-for-3 with an RBI).

Richards Leaders: Center fielder Dan Kenealy (1-for-4 with 2 RBIs). Starting pitcher Jordan Julian (3-for-4 at the plate). Catcher Jesse Valenti (1-for-2 with an RBI).

Quotable: Evergreen Park starting pitcher Jesse McLain on the two wins over Richards: “It’s huge. We’ve lost close ones to Oak Forest and a bunch of good teams. To come out here and sweep Richards is huge. We had big hits.”

Quotable II: Richards coach Brian Wujcik on taking the game as a learning experience: “With the young squad, everything has to be a learning experience because new stuff keeps coming up. Even though we’re 22 games into the season, there’s still new stuff that’s coming up that we haven’t seen yet and haven’t addressed yet.”

Team Records: Evergreen Park improves to 10-11 and 6-6 in the South Suburban Conference. Richards falls to 15-7 and 9-4 in the SSC.

What’s Next: Evergreen Park plays at T.F. North on Thursday, while Richards plays at Sandburg on Wednesday.

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