Cary-Grove, Schaumburg battle to a draw

With junior pitcher Mark Smith struggling in relief of senior starter Jim Perkins, Cary-Grove baseball coach Don Sutherland was looking for someone to give the Trojans some quality innings out of the bullpen.

Senior pitcher Nick Franz, who is expected to be in the Trojans' starting rotation this season, provided Sutherland what he was looking for.

Shutting out Schaumburg on 2 hits in 4 innings of work, Franz helped Cary-Grove earn a 6-6 tie in eight innings in nonconference action in Cary Thursday afternoon.

"Jimmy pitched pretty well but Mark really struggled," said Sutherland. "I wasn't sure Nick was fully warmed up but he did a great job. He threw strikes and got us out of some tough jams."

Franz registered 2 strikeouts and 3 walks.

"I threw a lot of change-ups and wanted to keep their hitters off stride," said Franz. "I wanted to throw strikes because I know I have a good defense behind me."

Perkins and Schaumburg pitcher Jack Bellinger were hooked up in a pitchers duel early on as the game was scoreless after three innings.

Cary-Grove (1-0-1) scored first with 2 in the fourth on an RBI single by Zack Forney and an infield groundout by Jon Starr.

Schaumburg, which managed only 3 singles through four innings, tallied 6 runs in the top of the fifth.

The key hits for the Saxons in the inning were RBI singles by Andrew Ralston and Tyler Teele along with a 3-RBI double from Christian Spitelli.

But the Trojans didn't panic and responded with 4 runs in the bottom of the inning to tie the score. John Carone lofted a sacrifice fly while Starr and Eric Keniuk earned RBI with bases loaded walks.

Schaumburg reliever Christian Poulson, like Franz, was outstanding out of the bullpen. In 3 innings, Poulson blanked the Trojans on 3 hits.

"It is very disappointing that we didn't get the win," said Schaumburg coach Cal Seely. "Christian pitched great. I like the way we swung the bats all day. It was a nice competitive game against a very good team."

Wyatt Mascarella paced the Trojans with a 3-for-4 effort with 2 doubles. Keniuk and Tyler Pennington added 2 hits apiece for the Trojans.

Teele paced Schaumburg with 3 hits, an RBI and a double. Ralston contributed 2 hits with an RBI and Spitelli collected 3 RBI.