Burlington Central opens up with classic win

The age-old formula of pitching and defense was a winning combination for Burlington Central on Monday.

That — and a little timely hitting — led the Rockets to a 5-3 baseball victory against Crystal Lake Central.

Sam Klein pitched 5 strong innings, Tanner Scott belted a 2-run home run, and Bryan Leist came up with a couple of defensive gems for the Rockets in their season opener.

The game was moved to the Tigers’ Fred Tipps Field but remained a home game for the Rockets.

“We made some plays to get out of innings,” said Burlington coach Kyle Nelson. “The defense was the key to the game.”

The Rockets scored all their runs with two outs.

With the game scoreless in the third, Ray Hunnicutt singled with two outs. He advanced when Klein reached on an error and eventually scored on a wild pitch. Scott then drove a pitch high over the fence in right-center field.

The Tigers scored twice in the fourth, but Burlington struck again in the fifth. Klein and Scott singled. Nick Hahn’s double scored Klein, and courtesy runner Clem Acitelli came in on Luke Fleming’s infield hit.

Joey Lange pitched the last 2 innings for the save. The Tigers loaded the bases with no outs in the sixth, but Leist started a 4-6-3 double play. Although a run scored, Lange was able to get out of the inning without further damage.

Then, with the tying run at the plate in the seventh, Lange leaped to grab Steve Lawless’ line smash to end the game.

Klein allowed 4 hits, struck out three and walked one in 5 innings. Scott and Hahn each had 2 of the Rockets’ 7 hits.

John Nemcek had a pair of doubles for Crystal Lake Central. Dylan Cysewski took the loss.