There are just two things that will keep Lincoln-Way East pitcher Zach Kwasny from coming out of a game.
The first is pitch count.
The second?
“My arm would have to fall off,” he said.
Well, the arm stayed attached Saturday but the pitch count reached 100 before the senior right-hander finally came out of a 13-5 nonconference win over Providence in New Lenox.
The Ball State recruit survived a collision near first base in the third inning and later had cramps in the back of his legs hurt so bad that he was limping around in noticeable pain.
At one point, he was drinking water out of a gallon jug to try to calm things down.
It’s been a theme all season as he has pitched through pain.
“I’ve had blisters on my toes and my triceps are messed up,” Kwasny said. “But other than that, I’m good.”
He felt a lot better when teammate Tyler Bell, a Pittsburgh recruit, helped break the game open with the three-run homer in the third to give Lincoln-Way East (21-6) a 5-1 lead.
“He’s a gamer and never wants to come out of the game,” Bell said of Kwasny. “He’s going to get the job done for us.”
Griffins coach Eric Brauer finds it hard to give Kwasny the hook.
“People call him a warrior and that’s fine, but I go with competitor,” Brauer said. “It doesn’t matter if you are playing in the No. 1 team in the state or the No. 700 team in the state.
“If he shows up in a uniform, he wants to compete. He wants guys to count on him to compete.”
Bell had four hits and drove in four runs Saturday for the Griffins in a game that will likely determine the top seed in the Class 4A Lockport Sectional. Jack Cosich had three hits and Trevor Fishman had four RBIs.
For Providence (23-4), Jackson Smith had three hits. Nate O’Donnell and Jude Allen each had two.
Good Knight: Junior catcher/infielder/outfielder Collin Mowry, who has verbally committed to Louisville, hit four homers Wednesday for Lincoln-Way Central in a 13-1 win over Normal.
According to the Illinois High School Association, Bloomington’s Joe Kennett owns the state record with five homers in a game in 1984. Twelve others had hit four in a game, but none were from the Southland.
“I was shocked,” Mowry said of hitting four homers. “But I wasn’t thinking about it too much because there was a big game the next day. I wanted to keep my confidence up and go strong.”
He paid the price a little Thursday in an 8-7 SouthWest Suburban Red loss with Andrew. He was intentionally walked three times in five plate appearances.
Mowry went 5-for-5 with a single and seven RBIs against Normal. Before that game, he had four homers this spring.
Lincoln-Way Central coach Mitch Nowicki said Mowry’s first homer in the third inning was to dead center, and later in the inning, he had a 12-pitch duel before homering to left. Mowry hit a first-pitch homer to left-center in the fifth and added another homer in the sixth.
Spartan stars: Two of Oak Lawn’s most effective players Friday in a 4-3 nonconference loss to Brother Rice were senior pitcher Cristian Ruiz and senior right fielder KJ Mallo.
Ruiz held the Crusaders’ high-octane offense to four hits in six innings and Mallo had two of the Spartans’ five hits. Both are heading to Morton College.
“Christian has pretty electric stuff when he’s on,” Oak Lawn coach William Gerny said. “He kept his composure, kept his pitch count down and kept us in the game.
“KJ has been struggling for a month to get hits. He’s just going back to the basics and did a nice job going the opposite way against pitchers that were throwing hard.”
Jeff Vorva is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.