Big 4th inning propels Bulldogs to 9th straight

After one run through the Batavia lineup Saturday, the Bulldogs looked they might need to spend their off day taking extra batting practice.

One more time through the order, though, and the '27 Yankees showed up.

After going hitless through three innings against West Aurora, the Bulldogs sent 11 batters to the plate in a 7-run fourth inning, which turned out to be all their offense in a 7-2 victory - their ninth straight.

Batavia (10-4) banged out 8 hits in the fourth inning, including a pair of home runs by Adam Karger and Ryan Welter.

"At the beginning we didn't put good swings on the ball," said Batavia leadoff hitter Tim Schofield, who went 3-for-4. "We started focusing and put it together and started hitting the ball."

Batavia coach Matt Holm also saw his team start slow against DeKalb Wednesday. On Saturday, it was Brian Kirhofer (0-1) who no-hit them through 3 innings.

"The first time through the order has been a little rough for us," Holm said. "(The) second time has been murder's row and it showed again today."

Kirhofer had only thrown 2 innings at the varsity level, but the Blackhawks were shorthanded coming off a tough series against Naperville Central.

"For three innings I thought he did an excellent job," West Aurora John Reeves said. "We love to win every game we come out, but playing Naperville Central, we got bumped back and started the series on Wednesday instead of Monday so any pitching that we might have wanted to use was reshuffled around."

Batavia took advantage in the fourth. Schofield started with a single, then moved to second on Joe Aguliar's bunt. Tim Drish singled home the first run, then Jordan Coffey's double made it 2-0. Karger followed with a home run to left, his second straight game with a home run and third of the season.

Henry DuQue and Tyler Lindquist singled to knock out Kirhofer, then Welter greeted Jesse Pena with a rare drive to left - one that cleared the fence for his first career homer.

"Ryan is an inside-out hitter, power to right field, so for him to pull and hit that shot, it was kind of out of character," Holm said. "We've got a nice middle of the order to work with. At any point we can pick up some RBI and hit with power."

While West Aurora threw some of their inexperienced pitchers, Batavia countered with ace Brian Krolikowski for the first 3 innings (4 strikeouts, 1 walk, 0 hits).

Karger relieved and wound up picking up the win despite allowing West Aurora's only 2 runs. Kyle Spooner's single drove in both runs in the fifth.

Chris Wood relieved and got double play grounders in both the fifth and seventh.

"Chris came in and did a great job, kept the threats away," Holm said. "He wants to be a starter but he does such a great job in the relief role. The depth we have is a real nice advantage for us."

DuQue will be on the mound when Batavia starts a three-game series Tuesday against Sycamore.

West Aurora (5-7) returns to DuPage Valley play Monday when they throw Cory Walden at Wheaton Warrenville South.

"We've seen a lot of good pitching so far," Reeves said. "The thing that is disappointing is our approach at the plate. I'm sick and tired of us swinging at pitches in the dirt and taking good pitches."

Marmion 9-13, St. Francis 8-3: The visiting Cadets built a 9-0 lead going into the seventh inning. But the Spartans rallied with eight runs before Matt Milroy returned to the mound to close the game and record his first save to go with his third win. He struck out 11 over 6 1/3 innings.

CJ Foster batted 2-for-3 with a homer, 2 stolen bases, 2 runs and 3 RBI.

In Game 2, St. Francis took a 2-0 lead, before Marmion (9-2, 4-1) scored six in the third and seven more over the final two innings. Tim Tarter won his first game and Foster, Dave DeSimone and Ryan Hoffman all scored 3 runs.

Aurora Christian 14-5, Wheaton Academy 3-7: The Eagles (8-5) dominated Game 1, highlighted by seven runs in the fourth inning. Eric Anderson and Andru Ubert both homered for the Eagles and David Zielke drove in three and picked up the win on the mound.

In Game 2, the Warriors broke a 3-3 tie by scoring four in the fifth to take the split.