Baseball: Cary-Grove downs Huntley
The mission on the surface seemed almost impossible for Cary-Grove relief pitcher Tom Neilson.
Inheriting a bases loaded situation and nobody out with Huntley having scored 2 runs, Neilson had a tough task ahead of him.
The first batter Neilson faced, Matt Rodriguez, lofted a sacrifice fly to slice Cary-Grove's lead to 2 runs.
Neilson, who earned a save, struck out Brad Maurer and pinch hitter Denny Smith to end the game.
The result was a Cary-Grove 6-4 win over the visiting Red Raiders in Fox Valley Conference baseball action in Cary Wednesday afternoon.
"I was ready to pitch and I knew there was pressure," said Neilson. "I came in with an edge and I knew I had to throw strikes and trust my stuff. I accept my role as a reliever and know I have to be ready."
Cary-Grove coach Don Sutherland was impressed with Neilson's effort.
"I knew when Tom went in he would get the job done," said Sutherland. "He threw strikes with good stuff."
Matt McCumber, who threw 6 innings, allowed 1 run on 6 hits to pick up the win. Throwing 104 pitches, McCumber struck out 8 with 2 walks.
"I feel I had really good stuff and all my pitches were working," said McCumber. "I had good pop on my fastball and I was able to locate all my pitches. "
Said Sutherland: "Matt always pitches well. He had all his pitches working well and located all of them well."
The Trojans (14-6, 9-5) pounced on losing pitcher Adam Smylie for 3 runs in the first and second innings.
Cary-Grove's first-inning outburst was keyed by a run-scoring single from Tyler Pennington and a 2-RBI single by Kevin Pedersen.
In the second, Pennington crushed a 2-run homer and Justin Trausch delivered an RBI single as the Trojans held a 6-0 lead after 2 innings.
The Huntley (16-4, 9-2) relief staff of Trevor Nemes, Keegan Garcelon and Grant Yaminsky blanked the Trojans during the final 4⅓ innings on 1 hit.
Huntley's first run of the game came in the third courtesy of an RBI single from Joe Rizzo.
Scoring 3 in the seventh, Brad Model contributed an RBI double and Rodriguez produced a sacrifice fly.
"We had the potential winning run on base in the seventh inning," said Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski. "That is all you can ask for. These kids will never quit. We tell our relievers to give us a chance to come back. They were outstanding. McCumber pitched a tremendous game. He threw 3 pitches for strikes with great location. We had good approaches against him and had some chances. He was tough when he had to be."
Huntley, which left 10 runners on base, was led by Model with 3 hits including 2 doubles and an RBI while Rizzo collected 2 hits with an RBI.
Pennington (3 RBI) and Trausch (2 doubles, RBI) had 2 hits each for the winners.