Baseball: Batavia's Albanese, Robinson shut down Hoffman Estates

Batavia's Jake Robinson headed to the ballpark Monday afternoon knowing he could be put into the game at any time as a relief pitcher.

However, when your starting pitcher is Louisville-bound flamethrower Glenn Albanese, you don't expect your name to be called in the fifth inning and your team leading 1-0.

Robinson, who entered the game with a runner on second and 2 out, induced an inning-ending groundball to get out of the jam and worked 2 more scoreless innings during the Bulldogs' 6-0 Class 4A regional quarterfinal victory over Hoffman Estates (10-17) in Batavia.

"I was in relief today so I knew that but I didn't know I was going to be in that quickly," said Robinson. "I saw Glenn (Albanese) and his finger was hurting (blister). I threw some warm-ups and I was ready to go."

Bulldogs coach Alex Beckmann was happy his senior right-handed reliever was up to the challenge.

"That was an outstanding job by him coming in short notice and really challenging the zone," said Beckmann. "He got out of that inning and that was absolutely huge for us."

Albanese displayed dominating power pitching through the first 4⅔ innings, striking out 11 of the first 18 batters before being taken out of the game following a 1-0 delivery to Josh Magers.

"He's been battling a little bit of a blister," said Beckmann. "He obviously brought it today. When he's on, he's tough to hit."

Albanese (3 for 4) helped his own cause with a 2-out RBI single in the third to break a scoreless tie before the Bulldogs added some much-needed insurance with a 5-run sixth that featured Robinson's 3-run home run.

"I was hunting fastballs," said Robinson, who blasted a 1-0 pitch over the fence in left-center. "The first one was a little outside. The second one - I knew he was going to throw it again. He threw it right where I wanted it."

The home run, which upped the Bulldogs' lead to 4-0, wound up being Robinson's final home at-bat of his prep career.

"I'm going to remember that one forever pretty much," he said.

Nick Grybos and Dakota Slingerland each had a pair of hits for the Hawks while junior starting pitcher Jon Keller fanned 9 in 5 1/3 innings.

"I was very happy with his pitching performance," said Hawks coach Chuck Abbott. "I thought he threw a gutsy game."

Abbott came away very impressed with Batavia's Albanese.

"I told these guys, 'that's the best guy we've seen all year and it's probably the best guy that we'll see next year,' " said the coach. "He is a true Division 1 pitcher. That kid is good. Sometimes in baseball you have to tip your cap and say, 'hey, you were better than us today.' "

With the win, the 14th-seeded Bulldogs (11-15) advance to Thursday's regional semifinals against No. 3 Willowbrook (23-8).

"We've got a chance in this thing," said Beckmann. "We've got our guys believing."