O'Sullivan, Kaneland quiet Yorkville

Kaneland's baseball team is out to reclaim what once was theirs this spring, and the Knights took a solid step toward that goal with a 2-0 win over Yorkville Monday in Maple Park.

Kaneland won three straight Northern Illinois Big XII East titles from 2010-12. But the past two years Yorkville has finished on top.

The Foxes entered this 3-game series with another excellent team, 16-4, before Kaneland lefty Matt O'Sullivan cooled the Foxes off with 6 2/3 innings of 3-hit, scoreless baseball.

Yorkville (16-5, 3-1) loaded the bases with 2 outs in the seventh. Jordan Bock picked up his first save of the year by striking out Yorkville leadoff hitter Max Warren to end the game.

"Huge win," Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said. "Matt pitched a great game today. We let him go a little longer, he was feeling good, his mechanics were good. He always does a great job for us. A great performance against a really good team today. And Jordan did a nice job of closing the door with the bases loaded."

O'Sullivan mixed his fastball, curve and change. He struck out 7 and walked 3 while allowing just 3 singles.

"I think the biggest key today was that he had all three pitches working," Kaneland catcher Joe Laudont said. "He threw a fantastic game. It was probably one of the easiest games I've had as a catcher. Not much to block. He was hitting his spots in and out. Wherever I set the glove he was hitting it with every single pitch. He threw fantastic today. You couldn't ask for any more out of him."

Kaneland (11-7, 6-1) didn't get much going either offensively against Yorkville's Nick Sewruk who suffered his first loss, now 4-1.

Jacob Violett and Danny Hammermeister singled with 2 outs in the second before Sewruk wiggled out of the jam.

The only other inning Kaneland had multiple baserunners the Knights scored the only runs in the game. Jake Marczuk led off the fifth with a single, took second on a wild pitch and third on Austin Wheatley's groundout.

Joe Panico, who stood out defensively at shortstop, came through with a soft liner into center field to score Marczuk.

Laudont then gave Kaneland an insurance run with the lone extra-base hit of the game, a double to the left-center gap.

"I knew I wanted to make something happen," Laudont said. "I love when Joe gets on in front of me.

"It was a very big one for us. At school today we knew this kid (Sewruk) had thrown a no-hitter this year. We knew he had a really good ERA. Our goal today was to beat this guy. They are a solid team and we always get hyped up for this week. When we saw him on the mound we thought we have to get to this guy."

Yorkville did have a few opportunities against O'Sullivan. The Foxes put runners at first and second with 1 out in the second before O'Sullivan struck out the next 2 hitters.

With runners at first and third in the third inning the Foxes tried a double steal. Panico took the throw from Laudont and fired a perfect strike back to the catcher who blocked the plate and applied the tag.

"It was a great read by Joe," Laudont said. "He saw the guy that broke a little bit late and cut the ball off and threw a perfect throw home. The runner went right into me, he slid into me and I was able to block the plate and cut him off."

The Foxes still had a runner at second with 2 outs and Matt Gruber hit a smash to the left of third baseman Jacob Bachio. Bachio dove to his left to knock the ball down, and Panico came over to pick up the ball and threw Gruber out at first.

In the fifth inning Laudont threw a runner out trying to steal third.

Laudont led both teams going 3-for-3 and Violett had 2 hits. Nobody on Yorkville had more than 1 hit.

"He (O'Sullivan) located well and for whatever reason our guys didn't want to swing at some fastballs that I thought were pretty good pitches," Yorkville coach Scott Luken said. "If we put the ball in play I think things would be a little different."

The series resumes Tuesday at Yorkville and Thursday back at Kaneland, two games that will go a long way toward determining if the Foxes make it three straight conference crowns or the Knights take it back.

"We kind of had this one circled," Aversa said. "We know it is going to be a big series."