Cougars regret letting this one get away, losing to Crystal Lake Central
Vernon Hills' baseball team will remember this game as the one it let slip away.
Crystal Lake Central scored 3 runs in the top of the 10th to win 6-3 in a nonconference game Saturday.
In the top of the 10th, with two men out, CLC's Tony Cassanova and Connor Sadzecki singled, and both runners advanced a base on an errant throw.
Nick Knoppel singled both runners in, and Don Buxton followed with an RBI hit.
Vernon Hills had a great chance to win the game in the bottom of the seventh.
After the Cougars scored twice in the sixth to pull even at 3-3, they loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh.
But the rally was snuffed when Chris Marras hit a groundball to Tigers pitcher Ed Dunkel (2-1), who threw a perfect strike to the catcher for one out, who threw a perfect strike to first base to complete the double play.
Zack Freibrun followed by grounding out to first base to end the inning.
"You have to get kind of lucky in those situations sometimes," Crystal Lake Central coach Dan Badgley said. "We walked a guy and got a comebacker like we were hoping and that was a momentum swing.
"I told the guys after the game that we've had every type of game this season," Badgley added. "We've had games that we lost by 1 run, and ones like this where we didn't get a lot of big hits until the end. The guys just hung in there and found a way to win."
CLC improved to 8-2, while Vernon Hills fell to 4-5.
"There's no excuse for not getting a run when you have bases loaded," Vernon Hills coach Jay Czarnecki said. "We had an opportunity to win and we just didn't do it. Unfortunately, you need someone to come up and get that key hit. Chris (Marras) had a good at-bat, but he hit it right back to the pitcher and they got a 1-2-3 double play out of it."
Buxton came in relief of Dunkel held the Cougars hitless over the final two innings to record his first save of the season.
Vernon Hills was held to only 3 hits all game.
"You can't win when you only get 3 hits," Czarnecki said. "We got great pitching, but we lost too many opportunities at-bat for us to win."
Vernon Hills has been in 7 1-run games out of its first 9 games of the season.
Cougars starter Joey Bloom allowed only 3 runs, with just 1 earned. Cesar Gallegos relieved in the sixth inning and held CLC scoreless for 3 innings. Jonny Rathod suffered the loss despite not allowing an earned run in the 10th.
"It was a real disappointing loss," said Vernon Hills' Nick Mazza, who had a single and an RBI. "We thought we had them with the bases loaded and no outs, but we'll try and bounce back from the next game."