MT. CARMEL, Ill. -- When Richard Bonomolo, Jr. hit a solo home run in the first inning, part of a four-run start to the game, it appeared that Wabash Valley was well on its' way to a Great Rivers Athletic Conference win over Kaskaskia.
But it was not enough.
After Luke Odden hit a two-run homer in the third - his first of the year - to put the Warriors back in front, 6-5, it appeared they had finally regained control of the game.
Granted, they never trailed again. But it was still not enough.
Not until Jorge Rodriguez uncorked a grand slam in the bottom of the seventh to make it 19-10 had the Warriors finally wrested control of the game. Then, two batters later, Mack Mitchell finished things with a walk-off solo blast to win it via the 10-run rule.
The improbable 20-10 victory on Thursday improved sixth-ranked Wabash Valley to 33-9 on the season and 13-2 in the GRAC. Kaskaskia fell to 20-16 and 8-8, respectively. It was the Warriors seventh consecutive win.
It was a crazy day "right from the get-go," said WVC manager Aaron Biddle.
"We did not get as good a pitching as we have had recently. It (was) a little bit of a grind, but we got it done."
An improbable victory? Consider that Kaskaskia managed to get to both the Warriors No. 1 starting pitcher Jacob Frost and top reliever Luke Leverton in the same game, something that has not happened this year.
The offense came to the rescue though, with four homers that delivered eight of the runs.
Kaskaskia had a rough time of it as well. The Blue Devils used eight pitchers to try and stem the tide. And this is only Game 1 of the series. There is no recovery time on the schedule. A doubleheader at Kaskaskia is scheduled for Friday at 12-noon, the games moved up from Saturday to beat the weather.
Frost, 6-1 on the year heading into his 11th start, ended up with a no-decision for just the second time since the Warriors came north for good in early March.
He pitched four innings, allowing five runs and seven hits, while striking out five and walking four.
"Frosty did not have his best stuff, but he grinded through it and got us in to the fifth," Biddle said. "Leverton, another guy who has been really good, did not have his best stuff, but got us out of a tough spot in the fifth and gave us a couple of innings."
Leverton entered in the fifth, in perhaps his highest-leverage situation of the spring: two men on, nobody out, and the Warriors clinging to that one-run lead.
He struck out the first batter he faced, and then induced a ground ball hit sharply to third basemen Isaias Villarreal, who took a step to his right to force a runner before rifling a perfect throw across the diamond to Rodriguez at first to complete a 5-3 double play that erased the threat.
Leverton, who got the win to improve to 3-2, took the game into the seventh, but Kaskaskia had scored once in the sixth and four more times in the seventh to close to within an uncomfortable 13-10.
So, Biddle turned to Maddox Pennington, who retired two batters on fly balls to earn his first save of the year.
Pennington was not needed after that, thanks to the seven-run uprising in the home half of what became the last inning.
Odden's home run, which came with two outs and Villarreal on board in the third, was huge at the time, because of what it meant on the scoreboard, and in the dugout.
"The guys always tease me. They say (Odden) doesn't have any juice," Biddle said, smiling. "But he had some juice on that one."
Suddenly re-energized, Wabash Valley then added to its' lead, with two runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to make it 9-5.
The Warriors banged out 18 hits on the day, led by Bonomolo and Odden, with three each. Rodriguez, DH Bruce Jellison, Villarreal, Mitchell, and Jon Legrande had two hits apiece.
Rodriguez had the biggest RBI haul, with the slam giving him four on the day. Bonomolo and Mitchell tacked up three, with Jellison, Daniel Contreras, and Odden driving in two runs each.
The Warriors, seeking their third straight GRAC title, have a three-game lead on the loss side with 12 league games left. Remaining are three full series with Rend Lake, Southeastern, and Southwestern, a single game against Olney Central, plus the remaining two games against Kaskaskia. Biddle's team also has one non-conference game left, an April 25 home date against Volunteer State.