Baseball: Preston Regnier comes through once again, pitches Yorkville past Oswego East in series opener

OSWEGO – Preston Regnier spent the offseason building himself up to become a better pitcher.

It’s led to a breakout spring.

And couldn’t have come at a better time for Yorkville.

On a pitching staff beset by injuries – most notably, a season-ending leg injury to ace Simon Skroch – Regnier has been a godsend. He’s filled multiple roles, primarily in relief, more than once in an emergency capacity.

Regnier got his second start of the season Monday, and once again came through. The Foxes’ junior right-hander took a shutout into the sixth inning and struck out eight in six sharp innings as visiting Yorkville beat Oswego East 8-1 in the first of a three-game Southwest Prairie West series.

Yorkville (15-10, 7-3) with the win remained tied atop the SPC West with Minooka, while Oswego East and Oswego – which lost to Minooka – dropped two back.

“Especially with the injuries, it feels good to help a team that has a real chance to make a run late in the year,” Regnier said. “It comes from offseason work, practicing, getting bigger and stronger.”

Regnier’s fastball topped out at 80 mph last year, but through medicine ball training and plyometrics, he’s bumped that velocity up to 85.

“I see the difference based off hitters’ swings,” Regnier said. “One of the best feelings is blowing a fastball by someone. It gives me a rush.”

Yorkville coach Tom Cerven said that Regnier first raised eyebrows with how he threw during winter workouts, and he anticipated a role for the junior out of the bullpen. But Cerven never saw this coming.

Regnier has posted a 7-2 record with a 1.73 ERA and 37 strikeouts over 28⅓ innings for a Foxes’ staff that has been without three of its projected top four starters most of the spring.

“In terms of the eye test, you could tell he picked up velocity, and not just velocity but late life. The ball had extra pop at the end, which caught our eye,” Cerven said. “We knew at some time we’d be using him out of the bullpen. We weren’t expecting it to be as big a part as he has been, but obviously happy he took the step.”

On Monday, Regnier struck out two batters in each of the first three innings and didn’t allow a runner to reach second base until he started to lose steam in the sixth.

Regnier estimated he threw 30% curveballs and a lot of fastballs, locating on the corners, putting the ball where he wanted. He allowed four hits and three walks.

“I learned to locate before I learned to throw hard – I’ve been locating most of my life,” Regnier said. “The velocity came naturally with work.”

“The biggest thing with him is he challenges hitters,” Cerven said. “He doesn’t mess around, nibbling at the corner. He trusts that his stuff is good enough that he can make a mistake in the zone and be good enough to get away with it. He doesn’t have to live on the edges all the time. He can get ahead in the count and mix in his pitches.

“From a coach’s standpoint and a defensive standpoint, you love to see it.”

Unfortunately for Oswego East (12-14, 5-5), it did not have similar success commanding the zone, helping Yorkville establish an early lead.

Wolves starter Aidan Aguilera walked seven batters and didn’t make it out of the third inning. Oswego East also committed three errors in the first three innings, and Yorkville reached on two infield singles in scoring three in the second and four in the third for a 7-0 lead.

Ernest Williams did pitch well in relief for the Wolves, but the hole was dug. Christian Martyn reached base three times and drove in the Wolves’ lone run with an infield single in the sixth.

“That’s been our MO when we lose games, is we do that. Free bases kill us,” Oswego East coach Brian Schaeffer said. “That is something we have to be better at. Defensively we weren’t terrible, but when you’re giving four free bases an inning, they’re going to eventually find holes and score. Credit to them.”

Yorkville’s Aaron Klemm, who reached base four times, had the infield hit to start the three-run second and doubled in Nate Harris in the sixth. Joe Onasch reached base three times and had a run-scoring infield chopper in the second, and Jacob Cronshaw singled in two runs and score on a double steal in the third.

“I thought our baserunning was really good today,” Cerven said. “We put pressure on them, we took advantage of the little mistakes they made, and ultimately in high school baseball if you do that you’re in good shape. Defensively we played well.

“It made for a routine high school baseball win, which you don’t get often.”