Jarvis hits Burlington Central to win at Batavia
Austin Jarvis capped an impressive opening week of the high school baseball season with a 2-run home run and 5 RBI to help lift Burlington Central (4-0) to an 8-4 nonconference triumph over host Batavia (0-2) Saturday.
The senior catcher, who smacked a 2-run home run in the Rockets' season-opening 6-5 win over Crystal Lake Central last Monday, had a 2-hit game in a 9-0 victory over Sycamore Tuesday and belted a grand slam in a 14-3 win over Kaneland Thursday, snapped a 1-1 tie with a 3-run second-inning double against the Bulldogs Saturday.
His third-inning home run that cleared the fence in left-center came on a shoetop-high pitch from Bulldog reliever Ben Allison.
"I was a little overanxious but I put a good swing on it," said Jarvis, who batted .460 with 6 home runs last season. "We just came out and put some runs up early."
"The Jarvis kid - he had to have 17-18 RBI this week alone," said Batavia coach Matt Holm.
"After the home run, I think I actually just got done saying we can walk him."
Jarvis' play behind the plate was also impressive, as the rifle-armed backstop threw out a would-be base stealer in the third inning and picked a runner off first base in the fourth.
"I like throwing guys out," said Jarvis. "The hitting comes and goes but I like to keep the defense consistent."
Rockets coach Kyle Nelson realizes what a luxury it is to have Jarvis on his side.
"He shuts down a lot of teams' running games and makes them watch their secondary leads, too," said Nelson. "So it's almost a more valuable weapon defensively than he is offensively right now. He's an excellent defensive catcher."
Central took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Tanner Scott (3-for-3, RBI, 3 runs scored) singled, reached second on a fielder's choice and scored on Jeff Ehlers' RBI double.
However, it took just 5 pitches in the bottom half of the frame for the Bulldogs to tie it as leadoff man Anthony Carby sent a 3-1 offering over the left-field fence for an opposite-field home run.
"I think we found a leadoff hitter in Anthony," Holm said of the sophomore left fielder. "I think he's going to be nice there and it allows us to move (Tim) Schofield around a little bit."
Hahn (1-0), who set a school record with 11 wins last year, didn't let the home run bother him as he retired 14 of the next 17 batters and went on to pitch a complete game.
"We've talked a lot about trying to leave things that happened in the past in the past and controlling the things you can control," said Nelson. "He struggled with that a little bit later in the game but he was able to regroup himself after that first batter."
Hahn, who didn't yield a walk, recorded 2 of his 4 strikeouts in the seventh, including a game-ending punchout with 2 runners aboard.
"He was on an 80-pitch limit so that was his last batter either way," said Nelson. "He's a kid who has been throwing all winter and he's a big, strong kid."
Batavia, which returns just 1 offensive starter (Schofield) from last year's school-record 30-win team, added 3 sixth-inning runs highlighted by Kevin Flinn's 2-run single.
"To some degree we feel like we're coaching a sophomore baseball team but we'll be OK," Holm said of his team's inexperience. "Last year was easy living the high life. This year, we're doing a lot of teaching and they're doing a lot of learning."