Baseball: Sweet day for Grant's Valentin (Cerna)
Valentin's day started with some glove love.
"He's a fantastic second baseman," Grant coach Dave Behm said of junior Valentin - Val, for short - Cerna, who made a pair of defensive gems in the first inning of Friday's Northern Lake County Conference game against Wauconda in Fox Lake.
Valentin's day ended with him breaking Wauconda's heart.
His walk-off double with two out in the bottom of the seventh inning gave Grant a 3-2 win, after the home team came to bat in its half of the sixth trailing 2-1. The victory gave Grant (8-2, 3-0) a sweep of the three-game series.
The lefty-hitting Cerna jumped on reliever Luke Dubach's first-pitch fastball and dropped it into deep right-center field, scoring Joey Califf (one-out single) from first base.
"One of my teammates (Kevin Gosciniak) told me he just missed it when he popped out to short (to start the seventh)," Cerna said. "He told me to look for first pitch. I looked first pitch, got one a little up and took it to right-center. I was just trying to keep the line moving."
Wauconda (2-7, 0-3), which couldn't take advantage of Jacob Jensen's 6 strong innings on the mound, had taken a 2-1 lead in the sixth on Camden Janik's one-out homer down the left-field line. The towering home run for the sophomore catcher, on a 2-1 count, was the first of his high school career. He played on varsity as a freshman.
"I was looking fastball and got it," Janik said.
Wauconda couldn't protect the lead, however. A hustling Henry Kusiak reached on an error to start the Grant sixth and stole second base, just beating a strong throw from Janik. Kusiak advanced to third on a wild pitch and then, with two out, coaxed a balk from Jensen to tie the score.
Jensen allowed just 1 earned run and 4 hits, striking out five and walking one in his third start of the season.
"I would say that's the best game he's thrown this year," Wauconda coach Bill Sliker said. "He was around the plate, and he was getting all of his pitches over. He was throwing curveballs for strikes. Whenever you can do that as a pitcher, and locate your ball, good things are going to happen."
"He located early, his off-speed pitches were good, and he hit his spots," said Janik, who also caught Jensen in his earlier starts. "He got the hitters off-balance."
Grant starter Carlos Martinez struck out seven, including the side in both the second and fourth, and allowed only 2 hits and 2 walks in 4⅓ innings. Behm took out the senior righty with one on in the fifth. Hard-throwing Mikal Ashley got a flyball for the second out, but Wauconda ninth-place hitter Drew Coe doubled home Marcus Sperling to tie the score at 1-1.
"I just liked where (Wauconda) was in the order," Behm said of his decision to lift Martinez. "They were going to roll around to the top (of the batting order) for the third time so I just thought it was the right time (to make a pitching change)."
Before he settled in, Martinez got early help from Cerna. After Keegan Henley started the game for Wauconda by drawing a walk, Cerna speared on a short hop a ball ticketed for right field off the bat of Joshua Kehl and threw to second for the force.
"I was pretty confident," said Cerna, who played on varsity as a sophomore last year. "I was making sure I got that ball and at least got one out."
Janik (2-for-3), who hit the ball hard all day, then lined out to Cerna, who turned the play into a 4-3 double play.
Besides Cerna, Grant also got an extra-base hit from Danny Laughery (triple). Martinez finished 2-for-3 at the plate, and Ashley (5 strikeouts, 0 walks) pitched 2⅔ innings for the win.
Behm admitted it felt like his team stole a victory.
"Absolutely, he said.