After 'Rock Bottom,' OPRF Baseball On The Rise

Things are looking up for the Oak Park-River Forest baseball team.

After being swept by Lyons Township in a three-game series, the Huskies now find their winning streak at four after thumping West Suburban Conference Silver Division foe Glenbard West 14-4 in five innings Wednesday in Oak Park.

“We knew we could win these games,” said OPRF first baseman Nick Kowalczuk, who went two for three with a double, two RBI and three runs. “We just tried to keep the morale up.”

The mental makeup of the Huskies (15-8, 9-6) was tested during the LT series. The April 29 finale saw the Lions hit eight home runs, including an amazing five in a row.

“That was rock bottom,” OPRF coach Chris Ledbetter said. “I said to the guys that they have to be willing to make changes and sacrifices for the team. We made a goal, I believe in goals, that we’re going to try to rattle off 10 straight (wins). We’re going to fight like we’re in a playoff for the next 10 games to get ready for the playoffs.”

So far, so good.

The Huskies took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning when Kowalczuk led off with a misplayed double, advanced to third on Mike Brennan’s ground out to the right side and scored on Frank Picchiotti’s sacrifice fly.

The home team rolled seven runs across the plate in the third. Kowalczyk delivered a two-run single, Jack Picchiotti and Ryan Kurtzer sent out RBI singles and P.J. Brennan contributed a sacrifice fly.

OPRF piled on six more runs in the fourth to make it 14-0. Eric Cybulski and P.J. Brennan belted back-to-back home runs — Cybulski’s a 3-run shot — to put an exclamation point on the victory. It was Brennan’s fifth homer and Cybulski’s second of the season.

Brennan, also the winning pitcher, went the distance. He improved to 2-2.

“I thought he was pretty good,” Glenbard West senior left fielder Ben Krusen said. “He was changing speeds. He had a good fastball and a tight little breaking ball that left guys flat-footed.”

Brennan pitched four innings of shutout ball before the Hilltoppers (9-14, 5-7) touched him for four runs in their final at-bat. He allowed eight hits and struck out six without issuing a walk.

“He’s setting himself up to maybe be our No. 1 in the playoffs,” Ledbetter said of Brennan. “His velocity is good. His offspeed is getting better.”

Glenbard West committed five errors.

“We started hitting and they started falling apart,” Kowalczuk said.

“We’ve just got to make the plays,” Glenbard West coach Brian Wojtun said. “Unfortunately we didn’t.”

Losing pitcher Tyler Curtis lasted three innings. His record fell to 1-2.

Ledbetter sees signs his Huskies are improving their situational hitting and approach with two strikes.

“I’m not ready to give up on these guys,” he said. “We had a stretch where we had a bad approach. The last few games there have been one or two or three at-bats where you’re seeing the guys showing that they’re trying to make changes.

“I was joking with them because we’ve been talking about different approaches. I said, ‘I Googled high and low for the best two-strike approach to hitting and I found it -- don’t get two strikes. Go up there and be aggressive against fastballs that you get early (in the count),’ and I thought we did that today.”