Cary-Grove flattens Grayslake North
Generous Grayslake North pitching fattened the bases with extra baserunners, and the Cary-Grove batting order feasted.
Three Knights pitchers combined to walk 11 Cary-Grove hitters and bean two more with pitches. The Trojans, frustrated on the heels of a third straight loss on Monday, capitalized on the free passes by smacking 12 hits in a 14-4 Fox Valley Conference victory in six innings in Cary Tuesday.
Cary-Grove (11-7, 8-4) scored 6 runs in the fourth inning to break open a 1-1 game. After starting pitcher Kevin Weber retired the potential tying run in the top of the sixth, the Trojans erupted for 7 more runs in the sixth inning, capped by Nick Richter’s walk-off 2-run single.
“This was huge,” said Cary-Grove catcher Alex Wians, who went 3-for-3 with a walk, 2 RBI and scored twice. “We were saying that we needed to jump out early and get some hits. We needed to get this win and push the momentum back in our favor.”
Of the 11 hitters walked by Knights pitching, 6 eventually scored, a big reason Grayslake North (4-12, 3-7) dropped its third straight game since beating Prairie Ridge last Thursday.
“The effort on the mound from us wasn’t very good today,” Grayslake North coach Andy Strahan said. “Cary’s a good team. They hit the ball hard when we would throw it in the strike zone, so credit to them. They played a good game.
“We’ve really struggled most of the season and we hit quite a few balls on the screws today. We had some balls hit hard with runners in scoring position, which we haven’t done much lately. That was good to see.”
The Trojans took a 2-1 lead in the fourth inning when Wians drilled a first-pitch fastball for a single to left field, scoring Alex Posey. Daniel Vilardo followed with a run-scoring double and 2 more runs tallied on a throwing error.
Trailing 7-1, Grayslake North rallied for 3 runs in the fifth inning, keyed by Andy Tatera’s 2-run double. The Knights threatened to tie the score in the sixth. Brandon Fern was hit by a Kevin Weber pitch and Kevin Staszczak followed with a single, which brought Adam Gomski to the plate as the potential tying run.
Cary-Grove coach Don Sutherland visited the mound to settle Weber, who was making his third start of the season in the wake of early season shoulder soreness. When play resumed Weber retired Adam Gomski on the first pitch of the at-bat on a hard-hit ball to center field, ending the threat.
“Basically, (Sutherland) just came out to calm me down,” Weber said of the mound visit. “The problem with me is I get too excited, too anxious to pitch and then I start missing my spots.
“My plan was to just come in with a strike and keep it down. I actually left it up, but he hit it right at him. Sometimes the dinky ones drop, and sometimes the hard ones are hit right at them.”
Weber (2-0) allowed 4 runs (3 earned) on 7 hits, walked 5, hit a batter and notched 3 strikeouts in 6 innings.
“Kevin’s the right guy to get you out of a slump,” Sutherland said. “He’s so darned tough on the mound and he’s coming around after that shoulder soreness. That’s his second very good outing in a row in terrible conditions.”
Cary-Grove put the game away with its 7-run sixth, highlighted by Michael Vilardo’s no-doubt-about-it 2-run home run approximately 390 feet to left field. It was Vilardo’s fifth home run in 4 games and seventh of the season.