Baseball: Dundee-Crown's Denz handcuffs Jacobs
Overpowering fastball. Check
Sharp breaking curveball. Check.
Effective change-up. Check.
You get the picture.
Dundee-Crown left-hander Danny Denz totally handcuffed District 300 rival Jacobs as the Chargers posted a 4-1 win in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division baseball action in Carpentersville Saturday.
Denz, who will pitch at Division I Memphis, struck out 8 with 1 walk in 7 innings of work.
"I just wanted to be aggressive with all my pitches and throw strike one," said Denz. "My defense was great behind me. I felt I could throw all my pitches at any time. Because it was cold, I tried to stay loose. I don't care what the weather is like. I just love to pitch. This is a great win against a very good Jacobs team."
Denz ended the game strong, retiring the last 12 Golden Eagles he faced.
"Dan was outstanding." said Dundee-Crown coach Jon Anderson. "He was strike one against almost every hitter. Dan did a great job of executing the plan.''
The Chargers (13-13, 8-7), who benefited from 2 Jacobs errors, grabbed a 1-0 lead with an unearned run in the first inning. Nick Musieliwicz, who led off the game with a double, scored to give D-C an early advantage.
The Golden Eagles (18-11, 8-7) tied the game in the bottom of the second inning on a run-scoring single by Brendon Heiss. Denz blanked Jacobs on 1 single during the final 5 frames.
D-C took the lead for good with a run off losing pitcher and Judson recruit Evan Liebau in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Andy Zimmer to score Musieliwicz, who led off the inning with a double.
The Chargers, benefiting from a walk, a hit by pitch and an error, scored 3 unearned insurance runs in the sixth.
Ben Prigge paced the Chargers with 3 hits while Musieliwicz (2 runs scored, 2 doubles) and Matt Weichmann tallied 2 hits apiece.
"It was a 2-1 score in the sixth and we just didn't execute defensively," said Jacobs coach Jamie Murray. "Dundee-Crown executed small ball and was able to get some runs. (Denz) pitched a great game. I tip my hat to him."
Jacobs 7, Dundee-Crown 4: In the completion of Friday's suspended game, Jacobs pounded out 11 hits including 6 extra base hits. Cam Wilson gave the Eagles a 2-0 lead with a 2-run homer in the first inning. Mike Addante added an RBI triple and a run-scoring double for the winners. Stevie Krueger and Tim Randl collected 2 hits apiece.
Sophomore Justin Lavrisa moved to 3-1 on the season with a complete-game win.
Jim Welzien led the Chargers with 2 hits and 3 RBI.