Baseball: Huntley blanks Prairie Ridge

Huntley hasn't won a sectional title in baseball since 2010.

However, the host Red Raiders will have a chance to end that 5 season drought on Saturday after advancing to the sectional championship game with a 4-0 win over top-seeded Prairie Ridge on Wednesday behind the masterful pitching of Adam Smylie and Nicholas Laxner who combined to toss a 3-hit shutout.

Huntley will face the winner of Thursday's sectional semifinal between Jacobs and Grant.

With only 2 seniors in the starting lineup most of the season a sectional title seemed like a long shot for the Red Raiders, but they progressed throughout the season and have won their last 8 games.

"We envisioned we could be here all along," Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. "I thought we would keep getting better and we have. The sophomores have grown. The juniors have grown. All we wanted was a chance to get into the sectional and then see what happens from there."

In an earlier season matchup between the 2 clubs Smylie took the loss on the mound in a 4-2 defeat.

This time around the southpaw held the Wolves to just 2 hits over 5 1/3 innings. He struck out 3, walked 3 and hit 1 batter.

"I know I have a real good defense behind me, so I just focus on throwing strikes," Smylie said. "The wind was helping me get good movement on my curveball, so I threw that more this time and was able to keep them off balance. It feels really good to get this win. As the season has gone on we feel like we are getting better and better."

The Red Raiders left 6 runners stranded in the first 4 innings, including 5 in scoring position, before finally breaking through with a run in the 5th inning.

Noah Konie reached on a one-out single and after advancing to second on a walk to Joe Rizzo he came home on an RBI single from Brad Model, who ripped the first pitch to center.

"I knew their pitcher was going to try to get a strike over," Model said. "So, I went up looking for a fastball. I was able to barrel it up and hit it up the middle. Once we had the lead we had a lot of confidence."

Huntley tacked on 3 insurance runs in the top of the 7th inning. Charlie Nugent had an RBI single and the other 2 runs came in on errors.

Laxner pitched the final 1 2/3 innings to pick up the save. He came in with runners on first and second base with just 1 out in the 6th inning, but got out of the jam with a force out and a strikeout.

"He's only a sophomore, but nothing seems to phase him," Jakubowski said. "He pitches with a lot of confidence. He's been in crucial situations for us all year.'

Prairie Ridge ends the season 31-7. Starting pitcher Ethan Routzahn allowed just 1 run over 5 innings but took the tough-luck loss.

"The better team doesn't always advance," Prairie Ridge coach Glenn Pecoraro. "It's the team that was better that day and today (Huntley) was the better team. They deserved to win. Their pitcher did a great job of changing speeds and keeping us off balance. We were swinging more defensively than offensively."