Batavia blanked in its season opener
The good news for Batavia during its season opener was that the Bulldogs didn't have to face Minooka ace hurler Mike Foltynewicz.
The bad news was that they had to pitch to him.
Foltynewicz, who threw four shutout innings in the Indians opener on Wednesday, blasted a solo home run to dead center in the fourth inning and later tripled and scored an insurance run in the sixth inning as Minooka defeated Batavia 4-0.
"A pretty good ballgame," Batavia coach Matt Holm said. "If we don't make a couple of errors it's 1-0. You can't take that home run away."
Batavia (0-1) had a chance to jump on winning pitcher Joe Pershey in the opening frame. Shortstop Tim Scofield reached on an error and left fielder Tim Drish walked with one out, but Pershey fanned Brian Krolikowski and Jordan Coffey.
The strikeouts seemed to make Pershey stronger as he retired nine straight batters before Krolikowski broke up the no-hitter in the fourth with a single.
"Pershey probably has the best control on our staff and he was throwing strikes on the corners and looked great today," Minooka catcher Niko Capodice said. "It was good to see our pitchers come out and pitch solid and for the defense to play well."
Minooka. which hasn't been scored on in two games and has yielded just 4 hits in 14 innings, had the Bulldogs off-balance as Pershey, Jake Butler and Justin Troyner combined to strike out 7 and induce 10 groundball outs.
"We jammed ourselves and struggled with some pitch selection," Holm said. "We've got to get a little more solid in the box and stop shifting around."
After Folynewicz's homer in the fourth, the Indians scratched and clawed for a couple more runs. An error and an infield single were followed by Trevor Thompson's triple just fair down the right field line which made it 3-0.
Krolikowski pitched 4 innings, walking no one and fanning 2.
"I felt great and was most happy not giving up any walks," he said. "Overall the defense looked good. We made a couple errors but we'll get the rust off. A lot of people don't realize we have a lot of new guys in big roles. Once we get comfortable I have no doubt we'll be rolling."
Batavia has not't beaten Minooka since Kenny Smalley (a 24th-round draft selection of the Oakland A's in 2008) crushed a game-winning homer to win the Minooka regional in 2004. Still, the Bulldogs like facing a perennial powerhouse in preparing for the Western Sun Conference.
"These guys want to play them because they're a 25 to 30-win team each year," Holm said. "It's a good starting point to see what we're made of now and the other part is seeing what baseball is supposed to look like. I say that out of great respect for (Minooka) and I remember when I played at Batavia and took the trip down to Minooka."