Baseball Report - GBS Falls Hard in Double Header to Dominant GBN Freshman-A

The Glenbrook North Freshman-A team has been the poster child of consistency and dominance for most of the season and Saturday was further evidence.  It is a coach’s dream to have a team, which has great starting pitching, reliable relief pitching, powerful timely hitting, and solid defense to back up the pitcher.  There is nary a game situation this team cannot seem to handle and they proved on Saturday they can also clamor back from a hole and grab victory.  Their cross-town rival Glenbrook South is always a tough competitor and you can bet, Coach Ryan Graham wanted this double header.  

 In the first game, David Burnside, was dominant and held the GBS hitters to only two runs over 5 2/3 innings.  He mixed his pitches well, located and basically kept GBS from really ever getting anything started.  In relief, Sage Bruhl was effective with strong command of the strike zone and was able to seal the victory for the Spartans.   Moreover, the defensive efforts handed in by his infield and outfield was superb and kept the game out of reach.

 Offensively, Adam Wagner, Matt Tedeschi, David Burnside, and Sage Bruhl had exceptional showings; notching multi hit performances and extra base hits.  The top half of the line-up fueled the early scoring in the first inning when Sage Bruhl, Peter Witty, and David Burnside all reached safely to load the bases.  Then the clean up hitter, Matt Tedeschi, came to plate and launched a blast into the right center gap after the pitcher threw him three straight curve balls and hung the last one a little too high.  Later in the game, power hitter Adam Wagner, helped the cause with a bases loaded jack to left field which nearly clear the fences for a grand slam but ended as a ground rule double.  While the game stayed close through 4 innings, the GBN Spartans were too strong for GBS and eventually ran away with game one knocking them out in the sixth inning with a mercy rule win 13-3.  

 In the second game of the double header, GBS came out hitting and put a small crooked number on the board leading 4-0 after the first inning.  However, the Spartans came back and chipped away each inning into that lead until they finally took it away for good in the third inning and never looked back.  Harrison Solano started in the second game giving excellent effort after a rocky first inning.  Robert Stocking was solid in relief despite several errors in the field and gave the Spartans an opportunity to fight their way back into the game and eventually snatch it from GBS. 

 In the second game, Matt Tedeschi, Adam Wagner, Sage Bruhl, and Sam Nyren handed in notable hitting performances.  Sam Nyren, who has worked hard all season to find his stroke consistently, came up big in this game in the sixth inning, giving GBN a timely two out hit.  While the game stood at 7-5 in GBN’s favor, Nyren was able to deliver a single just clearing the shortstop’s reach with runners on second and third, giving GBN a comfortable 4 run lead and a 9-5 victory and sweep.  

 The GBN Spartans Freshman-A square off again on Tuesday at Glenbrook North High School on Tuesday at 4:30 PM against Highland Park.