South Elgin tops Huntley in 14
It was the 14th inning of a 4-4 baseball game at Huntley, and South Elgin No. 9 hitter Kenny Lowden was getting hungry.
“I wanted to end the game,” Lowden would say minutes later, sandwich in hand. “I was kind of getting tired. Everybody was getting tired. Just get it over with and eat.”
Lowden had belted a solo home run in his previous at-bat in the 12th inning to give the Storm a 4-3 lead only to see Huntley score a run to knot it up again. Turns out, that was just the appetizer.
This time he took a bigger bite, turning on a fastball from reliever Nick Kostalek for a 2-run home run to left center.
It was the third homer in 7 at-bats for Lowden, who also launched a 3-run shot in the sixth inning of South Elgin’s 6-5 victory at Dundee-Crown Thursday.
“I’m just sitting back, waiting for my pitch,” Lowden said of his groove. “If it’s in my zone, I’m taking it out. That’s pretty much it. It’s just plain simple.”
The Storm added a third run in the 14th on John Menken’s RBI double, and sophomore David Palmer capped a brilliant relief appearance by striking out the last two hitters he faced to nail down South Elgin’s 7-4 nonconference victory.
It took four hours and seven minutes for the Storm (5-0) to remain unbeaten. Huntley dropped to 4-1.
The game was a scoreless pitchers’ duel between South Elgin senior left-hander Marty Knuth and Huntley junior right-hander Bryan Doherty, nether of whom figured in the decision. South Elgin finally broke through with 3 unearned runs in the top of the sixth, helped by 3 consecutive errors by normally sure-handed sophomore third baseman Bryce Only.
Only would help the Red Raiders battle back, however. With one out in the bottom of the seventh and a runner on first, Only jacked a 2-run home run to left field to pull Huntley within 3-2.
After inducing a groundout Knuth had Huntley down to its last out, but Colin Lyman reached base on a slow dribbler to keep the inning alive. Brody Burkhart followed with a double of the left-field fence to tie the game 3-3.
It was the second straight game the Red Raiders rallied to tie a game with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
“We fight to the end and we take pride in it,” Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. “Some days you’re unable to overcome, and today we just got beat by a better team.”
Klein threw 102 pitches in 7 innings of relief. He held South Elgin to 1 run on 3 hits, struck out 6 and walked none.
However, his teammates couldn’t cash in on Klein’s effective relief pitching. The Red Raiders loaded the bases in the ninth inning with two outs but grounded into a forceout at third base. In the 11th they loaded the bases with nobody out but Palmer induced a line-drive double play to Menken at shortstop and struck out the next hitter to escape.
Huntley answered Lowden’s solo home run in the 12th with a quick run of its own. Jake Perkins (4-for-7, 2 2B) led off with a double and Josh Prokuski followed with a run-scoring single to knot the game 4-4. The Red Raiders went on to load the bases with one out, but could not get the clutch hit to end it.
“Both teams had plenty of opportunities to come up with the big hits,” Jakubowski said. “When you have a man on third and less than two outs you have to get that run home. We had that on three occasions and couldn’t get it done.”
Palmer was a big reason. Called up from the sophomore team ostensibly to pitch an inning or two of relief, he ended up throwing 118 pitches in 6 innings. Palmer (1-0) allowed 1 run on 7 hits, walked 4 and struck out 6.
“I was just trying to throw strikes and keep my guys in it,” Palmer said. “It’s all I could do. It’s cold, the wind’s blowing out, I’ve got a good defense behind me.
Palmer’s coach liked the approach.
“If you throw strikes, hit the strike zone and give your defense opportunities to make plays, they’ll make them for you,” South Elgin coach Jim Kating said. “We’ve been doing a pretty good job with that.”