Geneva breaks open close game with Kaneland
When the final out was recorded Saturday afternoon, the scoreboard read Geneva 7, Kaneland 0.
However, the Vikings' nonconference baseball triumph certainly didn't have the feel of a 7-run game.
With Geneva senior southpaw James Prisco and Kaneland right-hander Steven Limbrunner locked in a 1-0 battle for the first 5 innings, it appeared that the contest would be in doubt well into the seventh inning.
The Vikings (6-5) changed all that by sending 11 batters to the plate during a 6-run sixth that put the game out of reach.
"I was pleased even when the game was 1-0," said Vikings coach Matt Hahn. "What I liked was that our demeanor was the same whether it was 1-0 or 7-0. We found different ways to score our runs."
Geneva grabbed a 1-0 lead in its half of the first inning as leadoff man Jason Croci sliced a double down the right-field line, took third on a groundout and scored on Jack Wassel's sacrifice fly to center.
In the sixth, the Vikings finally broke it open.
Junior Justin Hasegawa led off with an opposite-field single and advanced to second on Croci's sacrifice bunt.
After a wild pitch and walk, Wassel (1-for-1, 2 RBI) stroked a single the opposite way as the Vikings extended their lead to 2-0.
"Coach (Hahn) really emphasizes hitting the ball the opposite way in practice," said Wassel. "We work on it a lot and it showed today."
"It has kind of been the trend in baseball the last few years," Hahn said of an opposite-field hitting approach. "With those old bats, you used to teach them to just get up and hit the thing hard. With these bats, you've got to be able to hit the ball to the right side. You've got to get the bunt down. You've got to play smart baseball."
Knights reliever Jordan Bock entered the game and fanned a batter for the second out before Matt Simpson walked to load the bases.
A.J. Hostman reached on an infield single to drive in Wassel with the Vikings' third run before Nick Porretto cleared the bases with a 3-run double to deep right and Justin Soeldner added an RBI single to close out the scoring.
"You won't find it in your score sheet but I thought the play of the game was A.J. Hostman beating that play out," said Hahn. "If he gets thrown out, it's 2-0 going into the seventh."
Porretto came on in relief to strike out the side in the seventh as the Vikings recorded their third win in 4 games.
Prisco worked the first 6 innings, allowing just 3 hits with 3 strikeouts and no walks.
"When you're strike 1, strike 2, you're in command of the at-bat," said Hahn. "When you're hitting and walking guys, now they're in charge. When you can have a guy who throws strikes with the wind blowing in, it's a good combination."
Geneva opens a 3-game series with St. Charles East (6-0 in UEC River play) Tuesday in St. Charles.
"Every week is big," said Hahn. "Streamwood snuck up and bit us and West Chicago snuck up and bit (St. Charles) North. It's going to come down to making key plays, running the bases well and executing when you need to get bunts down."
Jacob Bachio, River Dunne and Nick Stratman each had singles for the Knights (6-6), who managed just 7 baserunners.
"We're looking to get bunts down and we just can't do it," said Kaneland coach Brian Aversa. "You're going to lose games when you can't execute and move guys around.
"Limbrunner threw 53 pitches through five innings. He's efficient but it's 1-0 and it feels like we're down by 10. Everybody is putting so much pressure on themselves right now. We're all right in conference play but we come to these Saturday games and we're all tight."