Grayslake Central bounces back against North

After one inning at Grayslake Central, visiting Grayslake North and the Rams were on pace for a 21-21 tie after 7 innings of baseball.

Nine pitchers took part in this rivalry game. And a few of them did quite well, including soft-tossing lefty Griffin Edwards of Grayslake Central. He picked up his first varsity win.

"He's the smallest guy on our team,'' said Central coach, Troy Whalen. "And he's the most competitive."

Central (15-14) avenged Friday's loss to North with a 9-3 win. Also pitching well for the winning Rams was fireballer David Llorens. He struck out six in 1⅔ innings. And my, he threw the ball so hard.

"I've hit 90 on the speed gun a few times,'' Llorens said.

Llorens, a starter on most days, was called on for some relief work in this contest.

"I had a 50-pitch limit, '' Llorens said. "And I'm glad we got the first varsity win for the kid (Edwards)."

North coach Andy Strahan knew his team would have some trouble with Llorens' stuff.

"He did a nice job with his pacing,'' Strahan said. "He really has a good fastball."

Those late-arriving fans missed a very run-heavy first frame. North (14-16) only had one sacrifice bunt out until the eighth-place hitter came up. Third baseman Danny Yates doubled home a pair of runs, and catcher Alex Carrillo drove in another.

And maybe this was no surprise, as North had won 9 out of its last 10 games.

"Over that streak, we've made the plays in the field,'' Strahan said. "And we didn't make them today."

Down by 3 runs, the Rams answered right back. Llorens went the opposite way with a double. And Central quickly loaded the bases. Anthony Fitzgerald brought home two runs with his single. Ethan LaBeck's sacrifice fly knotted it up at 3-3.

And then both sides switched pitchers. Edwards took over for the Rams, while submarine right-hander Jeff Ritter took over for North. And just like that, both offenses shut down.

"The key to the game is we came out and matched them for runs in the first,'' Whalen said. "I was really proud of them."

Ritter perhaps deserved a better fate. In his second frame against the Rams, he quickly retired the first two hitters of the third inning. Then seventh-place hitter Greg Gauger reached Ritter for a hit, and Jeff Terronez laid down a bunt for another hit before ninth-place hitter Devin Moran singled in the go-ahead run for Central.

Gauger reached base all four times: One walk, once on an error and two singles. In the fourth, he delivered a 2-run single to help blow the game open.

"That was a huge two-out hit from Greg,'' Whalen said. "That was great to see."

Three North errors led to 3 Central runs in the sixth.

Following the contest, a few of Whalen's friends noted it puts him on verge of a career milestone as he has notched career win No. 299.