Lake Zurich downs Cary-Grove
Timely hitting. Solid pitching. Near flawless defense.
Those were the ingredients Lake Zurich utilized in posting a 7-2 win over Cary-Grove in a nonconference baseball game in Cary Monday afternoon.
"We made some mistakes and have a lot of work to do, but we did a lot of good things in the game today," said Lake Zurich coach Chuck Gandolphi. "Our pitchers did a great job. They don't overpower hitters, but they did a good job of mixing their pitches. It is always nice to beat a good program like Cary, especially on the road."
Starting pitcher Jeff Kudron was solid on the mound for the Bears (4-3). In 4 innings of work, Kudron allowed 2 runs on 4 hits. The senior hurler struck out 3 and walked 2.
Junior right-hander Trevor Staley came out of the bullpen and blanked the Trojans (5-4) without allowing a hit in 3 innings of work to earn the win.
Cary-Grove struck first as the Trojans scored a run in the first on an RBI groundout by Matt Sutherland.
Lake Zurich, which benefited from 7 Trojan errors, tied the game at 1-1 in the second on an RBI single from Sam Warady.
The Trojans took a short-lived lead in the fourth on an RBI single by Rob Johnson.
The Bears, who scored the final 6 runs in the game, scored one in the fifth to tie the score on an RBI single by Colton Wagner.
Lake Zurich took the lead for good in the sixth with a run on a single from Dan Neises.
LZ added 4 insurance runs in the seventh courtesy of an RBI single by Nick Jones and a sacrifice fly from Sam Zoibi.
Because of their shoddy defense, the Trojans wasted a solid pitching effort by Jim Perkins. Perkins, who pitched 6 innings, gave up 3 runs (2 earned) on 6 hits. He struck out 6 Bears while walking 3.
"Jimmy pitched a great game, said Cary-Grove coach Don Sutherland. "He deserved better. He had good stuff and he did a great job of working through all our errors. Offensively, we took way too many pitches. We weren't aggressive at all. Our approach at the plate was poor. You can't win with 7 errors. Our defense was awful."