Baseball: Antioch outruns Grayslake Central
Nic Presutti's accurate throw home from shallow right field arrived in plenty of time to record the third out and send Friday's Northern Lake County Conference baseball game to the bottom of the eighth still tied.
This wasn't Grayslake Central's week, however.
This was Antioch's week.
"I probably shouldn't have sent him," Antioch coach Chris Malec said with a sheepish grin, referring to courtesy runner Marc Huston.
It worked out well for the Sequoits.
Huston jarred the ball out of the mitt of Grayslake Central's catcher to score the go-ahead run, Antioch tacked on two more runs against the deflated Rams and won 4-1 in extra innings, thus completing a Sequoits sweep of the three-game series this week.
"His glove hit me and I guess I knocked the ball loose when I ran into him," said Huston, who didn't slide on the play. "My first thought was, 'Step on the plate.' "
Huston, who was running for catcher J.R. Johnson (single), scored on Nick Sheren's base hit, as Antioch (9-8, 8-3) climbed above the .500 mark.
His team's lack of execution didn't sit well with Grayslake Central coach Troy Whalen.
"Did we think the Antioch kid was going to slow down?" Whalen said after his Rams fell to 15-10 and 4-5. "Of course not. That's athletics. Our guys are still trying to learn that. There were three plays in that inning that we didn't make."
Whalen was referring to the play at the plate and a pair of singles that dropped in the outfield. Whalen lifted starting pitcher Coby Moe after Huston scored the go-ahead run. After Ben Gutke (2-for-3, double) was intentionally walked, Thomas Boeh drew a bases-loaded pass to force in an insurance run, and Alex Unekis (2-for-4) followed with an RBI single.
Moe, a sophomore righty, pitched 7⅔ innings, striking out seven and allowing just 4 hits before yielding three in the eighth.
"I thought he was outstanding," Whalen said. "He had three pitches working. They're a good-hitting team. He deserved a better fate. Sometimes baseball can be a cruel game."
Antioch starting pitcher Colin Wieska was just as impressive. He allowed 1 run and 3 hits in 6 innings, striking out two, walking one and hitting a pair.
"My fastball and curveball were good," Wieska said. "Sometimes I had a tendency to spike my curveball, but usually when I threw it, it was working a lot."
Wieska was making just his second start of the season. With three seniors ahead of the junior righty in Antioch's starting rotation, he's pitched mainly in relief.
"I feel good," Wieska said. "My arm's a little sore, but I'll be fine for next week against Lakes."
"He looked pretty good," Malec said. "I've worked with him since he was in youth leagues. He's always had talent. He's always thrown strikes, and his curveball is pretty good."
Besides singling in the go-ahead run in his only plate appearance, Sheren got the win in relief, throwing 2 no-hit innings with 3 strikeouts. Grayslake Central put two runners on with one out in the bottom of the eighth thanks to a walk and error, but Sheren got a strikeout and popout to end it.
"We've been playing well," Malec said.