Cary-Grove 11, Dundee-Crown 5
Cary-Grove senior Eric Aguilera has a simple approach at the plate.
Hit the ball where it is pitched.
Spraying the ball to all fields, Aguilera belted out 3 hits including 2 doubles with 3 RBI and 3 runs scored to lead the Trojans to a 11-5 win over Dundee-Crown in a Fox Valley Conference Valley Division tilt in Cary Wednesday afternoon.
"I just try to take the ball to the other field right now and it's working," said Aguilera. "I am seeing the ball well and I have a lot of confidence at the plate."
Actually, Aguilera gave the Trojans (13-5, 1-2) a 1-0 lead with an RBI double in the bottom of the first. Aguilera scored on an RBI single by winning pitcher Matt Nelsen to give Cary-Grove a 2-0 lead.
Dundee-Crown's bats came alive with 5 runs in the top of the second off Nelsen.
Brendon Schumacher stroked a 2-RBI double and Willie Larsen had a 2-RBI single while Mike Zozokos had a run-scoring single as the Chargers (8-6, 1-2) led 5-2 after an inning and a half.
The rest of the game was dominated by Cary-Grove, which scored the final 9 runs of the game.
Cary-Grove scored 2 in the second on a sacrifice fly by Kyle Williams and a RBI double from Luke Mottashed. The Trojans added 1 in the fourth on a RBI single by Mottashed.
Cary-Grove scored 3 unearned runs in the fifth and 3 more in the sixth. The key hit in the sixth was an RBI double by Aguilera.
While the Trojans were scoring 11 runs on 12 hits off D-C starter Ken Warzalek, Nelsen settled down on the mound. The Cary-Grove junior right-hander, who gave up 5 runs on 5 hits in the second inning, blanked the Chargers on 4 singles during the final 5 innings.
"Matt had a nice first inning, then fell behind the hitters in the second inning," said Cary-Grove coach Don Sutherland. "He really got the tough the final five innings and really battled and challenged the hitters. He pitched a nice game."
Other than Aguilera's 3 hits, Mottashed collected 3 hits with 2 RBI and Nelsen and Kegan Mascarella had 2 hits each for the Trojans, who had 12 safeties in the game.
D-C, which had 9 hits in the game, was led by Eric Barber with 3 hits.
"We are scoring enough runs," said Dundee-Crown coach Fred Bencriscutto. "That isn't our problem. Our offense is fine. We have been scoring runs in bunches and you can't do that every game. We aren't taking advantage of opportunities to get outs. We make key mistakes on routine plays and our opposition gets the big inning. Kenny (Warzalek) deserved better on the mound. Our defense has to get better."