Dunlap pitches Cary-Grove over Jacobs
With only 12 innings pitched last season, Matt Dunlap entered his senior year with little varsity experience on the mound.
The lack of experience certainly hasn’t hindered the lanky senior right-hander this season.
Shutting out Jacobs for 6 innings, Dunlap gave up 1 run in the seventh inning while scattering 6 singles as Cary-Grove cruised past the Golden Eagles 8-1 in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division baseball action in Cary Saturday morning.
“After pitching only 12 innings all last year, I am over 40 innings pitched this season,” said Dunlap. “I am being counted on more this season. I got a little tired the last inning and my fastball wasn’t popping like it was earlier in the game. My fastball, slider and off-speed pitches were working well. I was throwing strikes and my defense was excellent. It is much easier to pitch with the lead.”
The Trojan defense didn’t commit any errors behind Dunlap, who struck out 8 with 4 walks and was the beneficiary of an 8-run, 11 hit attack by the Trojan offense.
“Matt’s location was excellent all day long,” said Cary-Grove coach Don Sutherland. “His fastball, curve and off-speed pitches were all working well. He did a great job of keeping their hitters off balance.”
Cary-Grove (18-7, 10-1) scored first with an unearned run in the first inning and tallied 2 in the third keyed by an RBI single from Nick Beyer.
The Trojans gave Dunlap a 4-run cushion with a run in the fifth on an RBI double by Andrew Brierton.
Cary-Grove seized control in the sixth with 4 runs courtesy of a 2-run single by Zach Marszal, an RBI triple from Matt Byrne and am RBI single by Daniel Villardo.
The Golden Eagles’ (13-9, 8-3) lone run came in the seventh on an infield groundout by Greg Sidor.
Marszal, Villardo, Brierton and Matt Ewert contributed 2 hits each for the winners.
“We haven’t played well over the last 24 hours, but that’s baseball,” said Jacobs coach Jamie Murray. “We fought hard, but we made some physical and mental errors that really hurt us. We had five games this week and had a tough week. We just need to get ready to play Lake Zurich Monday. Give Cary-Grove credit, they are an excellent team. Their pitcher pitched a great game. He kept our hitters off balance and all his pitches were working.”