Haas has it working for Hersey
Hersey pitcher Trevor Haas didn’t show a lot of emotion on the mound in Monday’s dominating performance against Prospect at Larry Pohlman Field.
Until the fourth inning, that is.
In what Haas called the turning point of the game, the senior leaped in the air and pumped his fist after picking off a Prospect runner at second base to end one of the few Knights threats of the day.
Haas allowed only 2 hits as the visiting Huskies defeated Prospect 1-0 in the Mid-Suburban East opener.
“That was a momentum-changer,” Haas said of his pinpoint throw to shortstop Tyler Perkowitz.
“We work on that a lot in practice,” Perkowitz said. “I saw the runner off second a little too far, and I kind of snuck in there behind him. It was a big play, and I’m always confident working that play with Trevor because his throws are always so accurate.”
Haas was just as accurate on his tosses to home plate. The senior faced only 23 Prospect batters, 2 over the minimum, while striking out six on a blustery day where the gusty wind didn’t do anyone any favors.
“Fastball, changeup, curveball — everything was working today,” said Haas.
“Trevor’s a great kid,” added Hersey coach Bob Huber. “He’s smart, he works hard, and he’s been throwing the ball great this year.
“He was very good last year as well, and as a matter of fact he was one of the last pitchers to beat these guys (Prospect) before they went on their run to third place in state.”
Hard-luck loser Jack Landwehr of Prospect was matching his counterpart pitch-for-pitch, but the Huskies were able to manufacture a run in the third.
With two out, Perkowitz singled, stole second, and came around to score when Haas hit an infield single and the Prospect throw to first was off target, allowing Perkowitz to score.
Haas then shut down Prospect (3-8, 0-1) until the seventh, when the Knights put the tying run on second with nobody out.
But the senior stranded the runner with two strikeouts (both on 3-2 counts) sandwiched around a foul popup down the third base line, on which Perkowitz fought the wind and sun to make an outstanding running catch.
“It was tough,” said the senior shortsop of his back-to-the-field catch. “I tried to run to a spot, then I had to make a big adjustment because of the wind.”
“The conditions didn’t bother these guys,” added Huber. “It doesn’t matter if it’s 80 degrees and sunny or 40 and drizzly, you’ve got to make the plays.”
Perkowitz and senior Sean Reszotko had 3 hits apiece for the Huskies, who improved to 8-1, 1-0 in the MSL East.
“Prospect’s a good team,” said Haas, “so I knew I had to go after them, and have them hit my pitch. I didn’t want to get into a situation where they were dictating what pitches they’d hit.”