Karger tosses 1-hitter at Kaneland

That old baseball saying goes that good pitching always beats good hitting. What does great pitching do?

That's just what Kaneland is finding out this week, and the answer isn't much fun for the Knights.

Adam Karger became the second straight Batavia pitcher to improve to 5-0, following Chris Wood Tuesday by throwing a 1-hit shutout at Kaneland in the Bulldogs' 6-0 victory Wednesday in Maple Park.

The victory keeps 10-1 Batavia one game ahead of 9-2 Geneva in the Western Sun after the Vikings' Alex Sroka fanned 12 in a 2-1 win over Rochelle Wednesday.

Karger had at least 1 strikeout in every inning after the first, finishing with 9 strikeouts and 3 walks.

"My fastball was popping, my curveball was biting, I was spotting my changeup," Karger said. "Everything was working. I just wanted to get ahead of the hitters and keep them off-balance."

Karger dominated from the start. After a leadoff walk to Jake Fiedler, Karger retired eight straight until walking Fiedler again in the third.

"It was a lot of fun making plays for him and he kept striking everyone out," shortstop Tim Schofield said. "He's a really good pitcher. I'm really impressed."

So is Batavia coach Matt Holm, who had to wait for Karger to join the rotation after a freak early season accident sidelined the senior.

"Now he's getting into his routine," said Holm. "He wasn't getting strikes up, he was getting them in and out. He pounded the zone, challenged them to hit. We had good defense behind him too. He jammed guys. When you pitch like that you are pretty much in charge of the game."

Curtis Lubic broke up the no-hitter by hitting a curve ball for a clean one-out single up the middle in the fifth. Karger quickly fanned the next hitter and got a weak pop to first to end the inning.

"I had it (the no-hitter) in the back of the mind but didn't want to let it phase me," said Karger, who threw a no-hitter during the summer against Sycamore.

Steve Colombe (3-2) also pitched well for the Knights. He scattered 7 hits and allowed 2 runs, striking out five and walking one. Batavia led 2-0 until the Bulldogs scored 4 runs in the seventh on just 1 hit, capitalizing on 4 walks.

"We just let some stuff get away at the end, lost focus and weren't concentrating on what we need to do," Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said.

Brian Krolikowski supplied all the offense Karger needed with an opposite field solo home run to lead off the second. It was his fifth home run of the year, the second to right field.

"Krolo went down and got that one and other than that they didn't smack too much around on us," Aversa said. "Steve did a great job keeping those guys down."

Batavia scored again in the fifth with three singles, a rally started by leadoff man Schofield's bunt single. Schofield went 3-for-4, scored 2 runs, stole 2 bases and also started the 4-run seventh inning rally with a hit.

The series concludes today in Batavia. Kaneland (14-7, 6-5) would be 13-3, 6-1 if not for its five games with Geneva and Batavia, while the Bulldogs (15-5) stayed red hot with their 14th win in 15 games after a 1-4 start.

"They've got a great staff," Aversa said. "Their staff is pretty strong all the way around and I'm sure we'll see another strong guy tomorrow."