Group effort powers Grayslake Central past Antioch

Kevin DeRue and Nick Richter supplied the pitching, and Andrew Hosford supplied the power as Grayslake Central's baseball team opened its home season by shutting out Antioch 6-0 in a nonconference game on Wednesday.

Hosford opened the game by slamming the third pitch over the left field wall.

"I just hit it and i thought it was only going to be a basehit, but I guess it went farther than I thought," Hosford said. " I've been working hard since last year to improve to be the best this year and that's what I am looking for this season."

DeRue and Richter combined to pitch a 1-hitter and allowed only five Sequoits baserunners.

Camen Jerina got the lone hit for Antioch, an infield single in the fourth inning, but was stranded after DeRue retired the next three batters out.

DeRue pitched the first 5 innings. He struck out five and allowed 2 walks.

"I hit my spots with my fastball and curveball and my defense really picked me up," said DeRue, who had 6 groundouts for the game. "I threw as hard as I could when I needed to, and the rest of the time I just hit my spots."

Richter came in the sixth inning and allowed 2 walks to pick up his first save of the season.

"Kevin pitched all of his three pitches for strikes and kept the ball down and made the big pitch when he had to," Grayslake Central coach Troy Whalen said. "You saw the signs of a kid who has been a varsity pitcher for three years and didn't panic after getting in a little trouble."

After Hosford batted fifth in his junior year, Whalen decided to put him in the leadoff spot for his senior year.

"Andrew worked really hard in the off-season," Whalen said. "He got off to a great start and he has alway had the glove. He has the potential to be a .400-plus hitter this season. From the leadoff position, he can hit for power, steal some bases, and will be a nice weapon for us to have in the front of the order."

Mike Gentile had 4 singles, including a flyball that just missed going out of the park in left field. He also drove in 2 runs and scored twice, Jackson White had 2 singles and scored once for the Rams.

The Rams had 12 hits and left 12 men on base.

Starting pitcher Chris Terzic received the loss.. He struck out one and allowed 5 walks and a hit batter.

After he gave up the home run, he allowed 3 more runs and 6 hits.

"I had some problems with the strike zone today," Terzic said. " You know, you have to battle when you don't have your best stuff, and that's what it came down to."

He also had a scare in the fourth inning.

With runners on second and third, Terzic attempted to pick off the runner at second.

When the runner on third tried to steal home, the throw from second to home deflected off of Terzic's head, allowing both runs to score.

"We tried to pick off the runner on second and I just didn't think to duck, said Terzic, who continued to pitch after a few warmups. "I didn't think the ball would hit me and I know to duck in that situation from now on."

Antioch fell to 0-2.

"The theme for the last two ball games has been the same," Antioch coach Paul Petty said. "We start out slow and we pick it up as the game goes on, but sometimes we are playing catch-up.

"In 30 years of coaching I have never seen a pitcher get hit like that," Petti said. "I think the runner would have been out by 15 feet and it's one of those little odd things that we will work through."