Baseball: Denz, Dundee-Crown drop Crystal Lake South
Facing Dundee-Crown ace Danny Denz is tough enough on even terms.
Spotting the hard-throwing senior lefty a 4-run lead after an inning? That's a hole not even the once-beaten Crystal Lake South baseball team could dig itself out of Friday.
The Chargers scored 4 runs in the first and added another in the second, and Denz limited the Gators to 2 hits and a walk while fanning 11 over 6 innings of a 5-1 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division victory.
"We came into this game very hyped," said Denz, a Memphis signee who improved to 5-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.47. "Crystal Lake South was (13-1). We just came out right off the bat ready to play."
CL South (13-2, 4-2) scored its only run against reliever Erik Hedmark with two outs in the seventh inning. Before that Denz kept the Gators handcuffed with tailing fastballs interspersed with sharp breaking balls.
"It's tough to battle back against a guy like that," CL South coach Brian Bogda said.
The victory kept Dundee-Crown (11-5, 6-0) undefeated atop the FVC Valley.
Denz struck out the side in the top of the first to ignite his team, and the momentum carried over to the bottom of the inning.
D-C loaded the bases with one out against CL South junior right-hander Keeton Ryza. That set the stage for Hedmark. The left-handed sophomore bounced a 2-0 pitch over Ryza's head and into center field for a 2-run single that scored Sean Jay and courtesy runner Jim Welzien.
"Right before that they called a timeout to talk to their pitcher and I went and talked to my coach (Jon Anderson)," said Hedmark, who went 1-for-2 with a walk. "He told me I should work on finding a good pitch and drive it up the middle, so I tried to drive it right up the middle."
The Chargers made it 3-0 when No. 6 hitter Matt Wiechmann bunted down the third-base line and advanced to second on a throwing error. Teammate Andrew Zimmer scored on the play. Senior Patrick Harvey drove in Hedmark with a slow roller down the first base line to make it 4-0 before he left the game with an injury.
Denz issued his only walk of the game with one out in the second, but the inning ended when junior Kory Olsen hit a line drive at Chargers third baseman Wiechmann. He snagged the liner and threw to first to double off the runner.
D-C added a fifth run on Jay's one-out single in the second inning and Denz preserved the 5-0 lead until his exit. CL South No. 7 hitter Michael Swiatly accounted for 2 of his team's 4 hits.
"We wanted this one," Denz said. "Home, we've got our home crowd here. It was awesome to get one at our place. Now it's time to get one at their place."
The 2-game series concludes at Crystal Lake South on Saturday at 10 a.m.