Baseball: Smylie, Huntley win round 1 against Dundee-Crown

Huntley's Adam Smylie and Dundee-Crown's Brett Buske will face freshman year together as roommates at Alabama next fall.

Saturday they faced each other as starting pitchers in a Fox Valley Conference baseball game.

It's safe to say the their respective strong performances in Huntley's 3-1 victory may come up in conversation on the Tuscaloosa campus once or twice.

The two were travel ball teammates for six years with the Algonquin Storm, beginning with 9-U, but hadn't seen each other much since high school began.

Buske decided in December he would study finance at Alabama.

Smylie made his college choice a few weeks ago. Coincidentally, he picked Alabama, where he plans to major in mechanical engineering.

Knowing his former teammate was headed for the same school, Smylie texted Buske and they ultimately decided to team up.

Smylie (2-0) gained the ultimate bragging rights Saturday by notching the win. He threw 66 pitches over 5⅓-innings and held Dundee-Crown (5-2, 2-2) to an earned run on 2 hits and a walk. He struck out three.

"I was trying to get ahead first-pitch strikes because I struggled with that in my last start," said Smylie (2-0), who opened with strikes against 16 of 20 Chargers. "I think I did that very well. Once I was ahead I threw my pitch and made them hit that."

Buske pitched well enough to win. The contact pitcher didn't strike out any Red Raiders but limited them to an earned run on a hit and 4 walks.

"I was just trying to pound the zone, let my defense work for me and stay efficient," said Buske, who completed 6 innings in 69 pitches.

However, the Dundee-Crown defense didn't back Buske like the Red Raiders supported Smylie. The Chargers committed 4 errors, one of which opened the door for Huntley's 2 unearned runs in the fifth that snapped a 1-1 tie. Kam Hoffmann's bases-loaded walk gave the Red Raiders a 2-1 lead. Brad Model followed with a run-scoring fielder's choice.

"Buske was unbelievable for us," D-C coach Matt Mueller said. "He went out and attacked a good lineup and threw strikes and they put the ball in play. He trusted our defense behind him. Unfortunately, we let him down on the infield and that was the difference."

Huntley played error free and benefitted from good plays by shortstop Jordan Goldstein and Hoffmann at second baseman.

The Red Raiders also got a clutch performance from reliever Noah Konie in the sixth inning. After Smylie walked leadoff batter Ryan Denz and beaned Erik Hedmark with a pitch in to shoulder, Konie entered and induced consecutive groundball outs to preserve the 2-run lead. He retired the side in order in the seventh to earn the save.

"I was just trying to force the hitter to make contact to get a groundball in that situation and, hopefully, turn two," Konie said of the sixth-inning jam. "But we ended up getting two groundballs so it worked out for the better."

Konie had the only hit for Huntley (8-3, 3-1). He laced an opposite-field single to left in the fourth inning to drive in Model for a 1-0 lead.

D-C tied the game 1-1 in the top of the fifth on a run-scoring groundout by Sean Jay.

The series resumes Monday at Dundee-Crown.