East Aurora beaten by Oswego E. in final act

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OSWEGO -- The season opener between East Aurora and Oswego East resembled a two-act play.

The opening act featured East Aurora's star pitcher Dan Okapal. The final act consisted of what happened when Okapal left the mound. Oswego East took advantage of two Tomcat pitchers who followed Okapal, rallying for a 6-4 victory in non-conference action.

Brad Warnecke's slammed a one-hopper that leaped over the glove of Chris Salinas in the bottom of the sixth inning. The two-out single drove home Ray Thomas and Josh Aceret to give the Wolves a 5-3 lead. Brendan Griffin then scored on a wild pitch to cap the four-run rally.

"The hard thing with young players is that you work on game situations in practice, but they have to actually go out and do it," said Oswego East coach Jim Vera. "That's awesome that they got a chance to come through in their first game. We can build on that as the season goes on."

East Aurora took an early lead when the Wolves exhibited some early-season loose fielding in the first. Two infield throwing errors plus an RBI single by Tom Okapal led to three unearned runs off Oswego East starter Seth Hillesland.

The Wolves narrowed the deficit to 3-1 on an RBI single by Joe Melisi (two hits) in the second inning. But that was all they could muster off Dan Okapal, who struck out 11 batters in four innings of work before being removed due to pitch count.

"Dan's been training all winter, so he's in great shape," said East Aurora assistant coach Jerry Taulbee. "But you can't simulate game conditions, so we kept him under 70 pitches. I'm real happy with the way he looked in his first outing. We're expecting good things from him."

Okapal, primed for a big senior season, blended a live fast ball and a nasty curve to baffle the Wolves' hitters. He allowed one hit in each of the four innings and got out of a first-and-third situation in the second inning with a pair of strikeouts.

Entering the seventh inning down 6-3, the Tomcats made it interesting. Tom Okapal, Dan's sophomore brother who was outstanding defensively behind the plate, hit a towering leadoff home run to cut the lead to 6-4. Dan Okapal followed with a double and Joaquin Ruiz walked, but Griffin struck out Giovanni Padilla to end the game.

"The kids were disappointed with the outcome, but spring is here and it's great to be out playing baseball again," said Taulbee. "We battled hard, and it was a good game to start the season with."

Matt Rodriguez had a two-out RBI double in the fifth inning to bring Oswego East within one run. Like the rest of the Wolves, he had struggled against Dan Okapal, but he made two outstanding scoops at first base to prevent runs from scoring.

On the mound, Hillesland and Warnecke held East Aurora hitless in innings 3 through 6, paving the way for the Oswego East comeback. High School Baseball