Fremd offense turns it over to Leaf
A two-year road to recovery from Tommy John surgery on his right elbow took a bright turn Wednesday for Joe Leaf.
And the Vikings’ offense continued its turn in the right direction as they supported Leaf with 14 hits in a 12-1 Mid-Suburban League baseball crossover victory in 5 innings at Buffalo Grove.
Homers by Kurt Kaufman and Jimmy Latal helped the defending MSL champion and West-leading Vikings (10-9, 5-2) score in double figures for the third time in four games. They didn’t need much as Leaf, the 6-foot-7 right-hander, scattered 4 hits and got all 6 of his strikeouts in the first three innings. He spread out 4 walks and threw 48 of his 82 pitches for strikes.
“That was by far the best he’s thrown,” said Fremd coach Chris Piggott of Leaf’s lively fastball and big curve that was unhittable at times.
“I’ve been struggling lately, mainly with control,” Leaf said. “(My velocity) has been pretty good but I wasn’t locating my fastball and today I located it pretty well.
“I was pulling my shoulder open but today I stayed closed and hit my spots.”
Everything Fremd hit seemed to be a shot as Kaufman and Latal went 3-for-3. The lefty-hitting Kaufman gave Leaf all the support he needed with a 2-run homer in the first and Latal hit a solo homer in the fourth and a 2-run triple in the fifth.
“My teammates really helped out today with the hitting,” Leaf said.
“We’ve picked it up a lot the last couple of weeks,” said Kaufman, whose homer was his second of the year. “We’re really swinging the bats well and we’ve taken a lot of extra batting practice in the cage and on the field.”
Leadoff man Zach Kolakowski had a 2-run single in the second, Sean Stutzman went 2-for-2 and K.J. Kinsella was 2-for-3 with an RBI.
Connor McWard, Richard Concialdi and Josh Jyawook had RBI singles and Matt Wisniewski drove in a run with a groundout off BG (9-9, 4-2) starter Andrew Van Wazer.
“This is the way I hoped we’d hit,” said Piggott, whose team scored in double figures just twice in its first 15 games. “We’re swinging the bats much better and we have a much better approach at the plate. We’re not such free swingers as we were earlier.
A double by Kevin Tennenbaum and an RBI single by Richie Zirngibl got BG within 4-1 in the second. Leaf pitched around Jake Fanella’s leadoff double in the fourth and McWard’s leaping grab of a liner at second turned into a game-ending double play.
“You have to tip your cap to the big fella,” BG coach Jeff Grybash said of Leaf. “They swung it today and they hit the ball hard.”