Tucker takes Lemont past Sandburg in opener
In varsity debut, sophomore helps Lemont rally. Plus, a celebration: ‘This was a lot of fun.’
Sophomore shortstop Brett Tucker took it all in during his varsity debut for Lemont.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, Tucker reached first base on an error. After stealing second, he joyfully raised his arms in the air. He was grinning from ear to ear when he reached third on a fly out, then smiled and clapped his hands when he came home on a heroic hit by Max Michalak.
That caused a wild celebration in the middle of the infield.
“It was cool,” Tucker said. “I like being around this atmosphere. This was a lot of fun.”
Tucker and host Lemont had a lot to celebrate Saturday after rallying from deficits of 6-0 heading into the bottom of the second and 8-3 going into the sixth en route to a 9-8 win over Sandburg.
Earlier, Tucker singled in a run for Lemont (1-0). Michalak added three walks and scored three times. Matt DeVoy had two hits and three steals and worked three solid innings in relief.
Shea Glotzbach earned the pitching win, keeping the Eagles (1-10) off the board in the sixth and seventh. Nick Morsovillo led Sandburg with two doubles. Charlie Snoreck had a two-run single.
Tucker’s debut also had Lemont coach Brian Storako smiling.
“He’s a spark plug,” Storako said. “He has some growing to do, and we’re excited to see where he’s going to be. He had a really good offseason, worked his butt off, so we expect big things.”
Tucker, a three-sport athlete, also plays soccer and basketball for Lemont.
He comes from a family of athletes. That includes older brother Eric, who was a member of Lemont’s 2014 Class 4A state