Baseball: IC Catholic's Russ battles to preserve victory vs. Glenbard South
No matter how much they're cruising along during a game, all baseball pitchers face adversity.
IC Catholic Prep senior Brendan Russ stared it down in the sixth inning on Monday.
Russ had a no-hitter through five innings, then escaped a sixth-inning jam and pitched a complete game in a 2-1 Metro Suburban Conference win over Glenbard South in Elmhurst.
Despite allowing his first hit and run of the game in the sixth, Russ minimized the damage and stranded the bases loaded to preserve the Knights' 2-1 lead. Russ set the Raiders (8-15, 5-4) down in order in the seventh on six pitches to finish a 97-pitch effort in front of an errorless defense.
"I knew I had to battle to get out of the sixth," said Russ, who struck out four, walked three and hit two batters while coaxing nine groundball outs. "I was pitching well but I knew I was going to have to get out of something. I didn't know it'd be bases loaded with one out, but I knew it'd be something."
Matt Sutton led off the bottom of the first with a single and eventually scored on a stolen base and an error. IC Catholic Prep (12-16, 5-6) extended its lead to 2-0 in the third when Austin Reed drove in Sutton with a sacrifice fly.
Other than that the Knights struggled to score on Raiders starter Mike Paprota, who allowed only 3 hits in 6 innings. All seven runners stranded by the Knights were in scoring position.
"You take your hat off to their pitcher for keeping us off balance and making us hit his pitches," said Raiders coach Marco Eufrasio. "We're still trying to find our groove and get locked in, but I think we're trending in the right direction."
Russ retired nine straight at one point but got into trouble in the sixth with a one-out walk and hit batter. Robbie McGimpsey's single loaded the bases, and then Dan Opem was hit by a pitch to bring home the Raiders' lone run. A flyout and strikeout ended the threat.
"Brendan threw his best pitch when he needed it with the bases loaded, and that shows his character on the mound," said Knights coach Frank DeAngelis. "His demeanor never changed out there, and that's a credit to him."
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