Spoelstra, Cary-Grove beat Huntley again
Cary-Grove starting pitcher John Spoelstra book ended his week with complete-game victories over Fox Valley Conference rival Huntley, fitting for a guy who could write volumes on how to beat the Red Raiders.
Spoelstra followed up Monday’s 4-1 victory, in which he allowed 5 hits and struck out 6, by limiting Huntley to 4 earned runs on 9 hits with 7 strikeouts in Cary-Grove’s 11-5 win on a blustery Saturday afternoon in Huntley.
“Since I just threw against them on Monday I knew what their strengths and weaknesses were,” said Spoelstra, who improved to 6-2. “I kept their timing off with off-speed pitches, and that got me a lot of groundballs. It also kept the ball out of the air so there were no home runs.”
Well, no home runs for the Red Raiders anyway.
With the wind blowing straight out to left field, Cary-Grove played longball three times, most notably in the first inning when Richmond-bound shortstop Michael Vilardo blasted a 2-run home run off Huntley starting pitcher Bryan Doherty onto the grass berm beyond the left field fence.
It was the area-leading 13th home run of the season for Vilardo, who also homered Saturday morning in Cary-Grove’s 12-0, five-inning victory over Woodstock. The area record for home runs in a single season is 16, set just last year by Jacobs graduate Ben Albano.
“This was a long day in some tough weather,” said Vilardo, whose team played a tripleheader that included a JV contest against Woodstock. “I was just glad to get a pitch that I could get up in the air. It feels good that we’re starting to string wins together to get ready for the playoffs.”
The loss capped a forgettable week for Huntley (19-7, 14-5), which looks anything but playoff ready with one week left in the regular season. The Red Raiders entered the week in first place in the Valley Division of the FVC only to lose all 5 games they played. They slipped to third place behind first-place McHenry (20-8, 18-3) and percentage points behind second-place Cary-Grove (20-8, 16-5).
“We definitely need to regroup and refocus,” Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. “This has been a tough week because we kept giving good teams extra outs. This has to be a learning experience for us. This is rock bottom. We’ve hit it. We have to go wash all that bad stuff out of our system and come back ready to play.”
Senior Danny Leisten and Spoelstra each hit solo home runs to key a 3-run fourth inning for the Trojans against Huntley relief pitcher Erik Swanson, who entered the game to start the third inning after Doherty (4-1) was forced off the hill by leg cramps.
The Trojans pounded out 12 hits against four Huntley pitchers, 6 for extra bases. Leisten led the attack with his home run, a double and 3 RBI.
Huntley will attempt to end its losing streak Monday when the Red Raiders conclude their 2-game series at Dundee-Crown at 4:30 p.m. Cary-Grove will attempt to win its fourth straight Monday in the series finale at Woodstock, also at 4:30 p.m.