Cary-Grove swings hot bats in win over Huntley

Veteran Cary-Grove baseball coach Don Sutherland has certainly tinkered enough with his lineup during the 2014 season.

Scoring 15 runs on 16 hits in a 15-5 six-inning win over visiting Huntley in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division action Friday afternoon, Sutherland's experimentation appears to be over.

"We've used a lot of different kids in the lineup and we have changed up their position in the lineup," said Sutherland. "We switched Dean (Christakes) from leadoff to third and Matt (Sutherland) from 3 to 1. It seems to be working. We are now putting pressure on teams 1 through 9.

The Trojans (16-8, 11-3) utilized the big inning, scoring 4 in the first, 3 in the fifth and ending the game with 8 in the sixth.

In the first, the big hit was a 2-run homer by Christakes. Jim Perkins had an RBI single and Wille Hartke lofted a sacrifice fly.

The Trojans, who were helped by 3 Huntley errors in the fifth, got RBI singles by Connor Leach and Perkins.

Cary-Grove's 8-run, 8-hit explosion was keyed by 2-run singles from Leach and Larkin Hanselmann and a 2-RBI double by Andrew Splitt which ended the game.

Leach, who reached base all four times he came to the plate, was a perfect 3-for-3 with 4 RBI.

"I have batted seventh a lot of the year but I like batting sixth," said Leach. "I am really seeing the ball well and getting good swings."

Splitt (3 RBI, 4 runs scored) and Perkins (RBI) also contributed 3 hits each for the Trojans.

Nick Franz pitched the first 5 innings to earn the win. Perkins, who struck out 3, hurled the sixth.

Huntley, which scored 5 runs on 7 hits, was hindered by 6 errors.

"We have been a good defensive team all season," said Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski. "Today, we made 6 errors and had 3 or 4 mental errors. You can't give a good hitting team like Cary-Grove 9 or 10 (extra) outs in a game. They are going to capitalize on your mistakes."

Huntley (17-6-1, 10-4) was led in hitting by Matt Sullivan, who had 2 doubles with 2 RBI and 3 runs scored. Mark Skonieczny added 2 hits with an RBI and Trevor Symbal had 2 hits with an RBI.

"I thought we swung the bats well," said Jakubowski. "We were aggressive and had good pitch selection."