Good Friday for Batavia's Green

It was certainly a nice Friday for Colby Green.

Ryan Weiss deserved a better Friday.

But Green was the one who received all the attention after firing his first career no-hitter as Batavia scored all of its runs with two outs in a 6-0 Upstate Eight Conference crossover baseball game on Friday afternoon.

"My defense was behind me the whole day," Green said after retiring the Storm in order in the top of the seventh in Batavia.

South Elgin (4-3, 3-2) managed five base-runners on the day: three walks, a first-inning Batavia error and a plunked batter.

Green recorded 5 of his 6 strikeouts on called third strikes during his nearly flawless day on the mound.

"My fastball was really good today," said Green, who was able to get ahead in the count on a consistent basis. "My curveball - I missed it on and off - but it was still pretty good."

Mike Rutas' similar gem against Streamwood two years ago was the last no-hitter for the Bulldogs (9-1, 5-0).

The game began as a pitchers duel, but South Elgin starter Weiss was deserted by the vagaries of the game.

As a corollary to the Green masterpiece, the Bulldogs' offense was as opportunistic as Weiss was undone by a Lauren Eustice bad-hop single in the third that scored Andrew Siegler.

Minnesota-bound Batavia star Micah Coffey legged out a single two batters later to double the Bulldogs' lead.

Three errors - including two critical misplays in the outfield - cost Weiss 2 more unearned runs in the Bulldogs' fourth.

Weiss truly only made one mistake.

"It was a hanging curveball," Batavia sophomore Kyle Niemiec said of his 2-run blast in the fifth that concluded the scoring. "It felt good."

"Our goal this week was pushing runs across," Batavia coach Matt Holm said. "Today is kind of a culmination to this."

Jeremy Schoessling headlined the Batavia attack with 3 hits in as many at-bats.

Weiss (0-1) also went the distance for South Elgin.

His batterymate, Nate Brummell, was about the only other bright spot for the Storm after gunning down two would-be base thieves in the Bulldogs' first inning.

"Ryan pitched very well," South Elgin coach Jim Kating said. "We have been beating ourselves."

Steve Busby preserved the Green no-hitter with consecutive putouts in right field for Batavia in the seventh.

"Our outfield (Reagan McReynolds, Eustice and Busby, left to right) covers a lot of ground," Holm said.

"The scary part (about being no-hit) is, I thought we hit the ball pretty hard," Kating said. "They had 7 two-out hits. That's what a good team does."

McReynolds and Busby were credited with run-scoring singles in the Bulldogs' fourth inning.