English has the touch as Fremd edges Meadows

Jason English knows he can’t have his best stuff every time he toes the pitching rubber.

In fact, his pitching coach used to tell him that 70 percent of the time, you won’t have your best stuff.

Despite not always having his command, English worked out of jams and out-dueled Matt Hendricks in tossing a complete game 1-hitter and leading Fremd to a 1-0 victory over Rolling Meadows in a crossover matchup of Mid-Suburban League division leaders that lasted only 1 hour, 20 minutes in Palatine.

English faced another pressure situation after issuing a two-out walk in the seventh to Mike Olson, who proceeded to steal second, and running the count full to Mickey Wazorick with the dangerous Hendricks waiting on deck.

But on his 100th pitch of the afternoon, he got the strikeout he needed to finish off the game.

“I’m the type of pitcher that sometimes needs a kick in the butt to jack myself up because when my back is against the wall, that’s when I know I need to buckle down,” English said.

“I don’t even think he had his best stuff,” said Fremd coach Chris Piggott. “I was telling our assistant (Brian Smith) that we were dodging bullets left and right. It seemed like they had baserunners on all day and he came up with big pitches when he needed to.”

Tim Polak had 2 of the 4 hits for the West-leading Vikings (14-8, 7-2), including a two-out single in the second that scored Jack Andersen, who doubled to lead off the inning.

“Whenever our hitters get on to start innings, I know it’s going to be a good inning for us because we have a lot of guys that know how to get the job done,” English said.

Hendricks was equally impressive on the mound as he needed only 60 pitches to get through his 6 innings for the Mustangs (14-9, 6-3), who dropped into a three-way tie for the East lead with Hersey and Prospect.

“He’s done a really nice job lately of keeping his pitch count down,” said Meadows coach Jim Lindeman. “He’s getting ahead of hitters and defensively, we are making the plays. There was a lot of good things about that game. We just didn’t get the big hit to take care of our side of the game.”

And while Piggott wasn’t exactly pleased with the way his team fielded in certain spots, the Vikings backed up English when it mattered most.

Meadows’ Matt Dennis reached to lead off the sixth on an error and momentum seemed to be shifting to the visitors. But on the next pitch, Fremd catcher Connor Bieda showed off his arm with a bullet to second base to nix the steal attempt.

“He has a really good arm,” English said of Bieda. “He makes it a lot easier to pitch because I don’t have to worry about the runners because he will throw them out. Whenever we’re up by a run, there’s no pressure.”