No. 3 St. Laurence Stays Hot, Defeats No. 16 Lincoln-Way Central

March 28, 2017

By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

No. 3 St. Laurence 9, No. 16 Lincoln-Way Central 1

BURBANK, IL – Tuesday afternoon No. 3 St. Laurence welcomed No. 16 Lincoln-Way Central to Burbank for their home opener. The Vikings of St. Laurence, who returned from their spring trip to Arizona 4-0, kept their hot start to the season going, defeating Lincoln-Way Central 9-1. The Vikings were led by senior LHP Jimmy Burnette and two big innings by the offense.

The Vikings offense, who did not strike out for the first four innings of the game, put pressure on Lincoln-Way Central (1-2) throughout and it started in the bottom of the second inning. After a couple of defensive miscues, and a walk, senior Brian Lyle delivered a sacrifice fly. Lyles sacrifice fly was followed up by a run-scoring single to left field by senior Tom Farrell, a UIC commit. All said, the Vikings put up three runs in the frame to take a 3-1 lead after two innings.

A few more defensive miscues and walks hurt Lincoln-Way Central in the third inning and St. Laurence (5-0) was able to tack on four more runs, which put the game out of reach for good. Center fielder David Lox singled and scored in the frame and sophomore catcher Matt McCormick, a West Virginia commit, delivered a line-drive RBI single up the middle.

Vikings starter Jimmy Burnette, an Illinois commit, settled down after a 30+ pitch first inning and kept the Lincoln-Way Central offense at bay for the rest of his start. Burnette sat 86-88 mph, touching 89 early on and challenged hitters with his fastball throughout. The occasional curveball that Burnette did mix in, had depth and was effective to left-handed hitters. Burnette, who got the win, ended up going five innings, allowed two hits, one run, no earned, struck out seven and walked three.

The two Viking right-handed relievers, Joey Vascik and Gage Olszak were lights out, not allowing a hit and striking out five of the six batters they faced in the sixth and seventh inning. Vascik, a senior and Maryville commit, worked an efficient 1-2-3 sixth inning, pounding the strike zone with a fastball/curveball combination and striking out two of the three hitters he faced. Vascik’s fastball worked 83-84 mph, touching 85 with late run and sink and he mixed in a breaking ball with good feel at 72-74 mph. Olszak, a junior, worked the seventh inning and struck out the side. Like Vascik, Olszak gets heavy run and sink to his fastball and showed good feel for his breaking ball. OIszak, who is 6-foot-3, 185-pounds, sat 80-82 mph with his fastball.

QUICK HITS

+ Junior RHP Matthew Helwig (Lincoln-Way Central) ran his fastball up to 84 mph and struck out three hitters in two innings of work.

+ The top three hitters in the St. Laurence lineup, Tom Farrell, John Peterson and Matt McCormick reached base safely in nine of their twelve plate appearances.

+ Senior shortstop Brian Lyle (St. Laurence) did not record an official at-bat, walked twice, scored two runs and had an RBI.

For more in-depth notes from the game - and all other games that we cover - visit the Illinois Scout Blog later.