Best foot forward
Koscinski hits key 3-run homer as Lincoln-Way West tops Central to take SouthWest Suburban Red title outright
Lincoln-Way West’s Tyler Koscinski had plenty to celebrate Thursday, including hitting his first high school home run and a conference championship.
The best part for the junior shortstop, though? Having the ultimate bragging rights against his old friends on crosstown rival LincolnWay Central.
“It’s surreal,” Koscinski said. “I know most of the kids on that team, so I’m going to have a lot of talking to do after this.”
Koscinski’s three-run homer in the seventh broke the game open as the visiting Warriors clinched the SouthWest Suburban Red title outright with a 7-3 victory.
Reagan King threw four scoreless innings in relief to earn the win for Lincoln-Way West (17-3-1, 6-0), which won its first conference championship since 2017 and snapped a streak of three consecutive titles for the Knights (11-11, 5-3).
Landon Mensik was 2-for-3 with two runs and allowed just one run over four innings on the mound for Lincoln-Way Central.
“It’s a great accomplishment to win this conference,” said LincolnWay West assistant coach Jim Kohlbacher, who filled in after head coach Jake Zajc was ejected in the fourth inning. “We have bigger goals ahead of us, but it’s been a few years since we’ve won it.
“It’s a tough conference. We’ll take it and enjoy it, but then we’ve got to move on.”
Koscinski, a first-year varsity player who hits in the eighth spot for the Warriors, said he considers himself a “defense first” guy.
“I think I’m a pretty smooth shortstop and that’s my biggest role,” Koscinski said. “Things have been going great defensively, but I started off a little slow offensively.
“I’ve made some adjustments with my swing, and when I can help the team offensively, that’s huge.”
Koscinski ripped a two-out, three-run homer that easily cleared the left field wall to make it 7-3 in the seventh.
“The last at-bat, they were throwing me inside, so I was ready for that,” Koscinski said. “I just stepped back a little bit, made a little adjustment, saw it all the way through and it felt good off the bat.
“It was a great feeling. The crowds were getting into it. The intensity was there. Their team was up the whole time. Our team was up the whole time. We were going at it. It was a fun game.”
Kohlbacher was proud to see Koscinski rise to the occasion.
“He’s coming off a little bit of a slump and he’s been working really hard, making adjustments,” Kohlbacher said. “The last few games he’s been swinging the bat well and he came through there.
“That was huge. It couldn’t have happened at a better time.”
Koscinski’s big swing gave King some breathing room in the bottom of the seventh, which was important after the Knights loaded the bases with two outs.
King, however, got a groundout to end the game. He allowed just two hits, walked one and struck out seven.
“I feel like I get more out of this role in the bullpen,” he said. “Starting isn’t really my thing, I guess. I like coming in when there’s more on the line.”
Cam Buckley went 2-for-4 with an RBI and a run for the Warriors.
Braden Meyer was 2-for-4 and Collin Mowry had a sacrifice fly for the Knights.
The rivals could meet again in the championship game of the Class 4A Shepard Regional.
“When you give them free bases with four walks and a ball we should have caught, we kind of gave away the game,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Mitch Nowicki said. “You can’t make that many mistakes against them. We let them back into it.
“The way it sets up right now, we’ll face these guys in the regional final. We’ll be ready for it.”