Baseball: Cary-Grove completes sweep against Prairie Ridge

Tyler Pennington provided the offensive fireworks while Mike Eleftheriou tossed a gem on the mound.

Behind them, Cary-Grove's baseball team completed a sweep, cruising past Prairie Ridge 10-0 in 6 innings in Fox Valley Conference action in Cary Friday afternoon.

Pennington, who crushed a pair of 2-run homers with 4 RBI, was 3-for-3 and scored 4 runs. It was the Trojans' catcher's first 2 round-trippers of the season.

"The first homer I was looking change up and was out in front of the pitch and I knew I hit it well," said Pennington. "The second homer I was looking dead red fastball and I made good contact. I have been struggling a little bit lately. I have worked hard in practice and was just trying to make good contact."

Eleftheriou, who tossed a 3-hit shutout over 5 innings to earn the win, struck out eight and walked three.

"All my pitches were working today," said Eleftheriou. "I was working fast and my fastball was really moving, and I had good break on my curve ball."

Pennington was impressed with Eleftheriou's stuff.

"All Mike's pitches were working," said Pennington. 'He was really throwing hard and he had command of his change up and curve ball. We have total trust in each other. He was throwing every thing I called for in great location."

Cary-Grove coach Don Sutherland praised Pennington and Eleftheriou's peformances.

'Tyler has been a great hitter and player for four years," said Sutherland. "It was great to see him with some power. Mike was outstanding. He mixed his pitches well. We certainly have plenty of pitching depth and it showed this week."

Dave Throw, who didn't allow a run or hit in 1 inning of work, walked one and struck out one for the winners.

The Trojans (8-3, 3-0) seized control of the game in the first inning with 4 runs off PR starter Joe Hansen.

The key hits were a 3-run triple from Justin Trausch and a sacrifice fly by Kevin Pedersen..

Cary-Grove added 2 in the second on Pennington's first 2-run bomb of the day to take a 6-0 advantage.

Pennington's second 2-run homer of the day gave Cary-Grove an 8-0 lead after 4 innings.

The game ended after Quinn Priester's 2-run single in the sixth.

"It was a good week for us," said Sutherland."It wasn't easy. PR is a quality team. This is a very good conference and every series will be a grind."