Baseball: Geneva hits its way past Streamwood

The notoriously hitter-friendly reputation the Geneva baseball park enjoys was not in evidence terribly often Tuesday afternoon.

But Conor Cook was the exception for Geneva.

The senior first-baseman had the only 2 extra-base hits as the Vikings scored single runs four times in downing Streamwood 4-1.

The schools' Upstate Eight Conference River Division three-game set will resume in Streamwood on Wednesday afternoon.

Cook opened the scoring with a two-out double to the left-center gap to score courtesy-runner Nathan Dewey in the bottom of the second inning.

"I saw an outside pitch on the corner, and coach (Brad Wendell) told me to keep my weight on my back foot," Cook said. "I hit it the other way."

Cullen Geary had a run-scoring single to plate Jeremy Davis as the Vikings doubled their advantage in the third.

Cook was the Vikings' leadoff batter in the fourth.

The powerful left-hander roped a shot over the fence.

"I pulled it over the right-fielder's head, and it landed in the street," Cook said.

There were two other defining themes to the contest; timely hitting and the new state-mandate regarding pitch counts.

Wendell used four pitchers - Noah Davison, Matthew Evert, Graham Owen and closer Brad Bowman - in limiting the Sabres (3-3, 0-1) to 5 hits.

Davison, the starter for the Vikings (4-2, 1-0), was declared the victor despite going less than three innings.

"With the new pitch-count law, you have to take advantage of all the opportunities you get," Davison said.

"They're all quality pitchers who can throw strikes," Wendell said. "We are going to put our (pitchers) in spots where we think they can be successful."

Streamwood was further hampered by an absence of clutch hitting.

The Sabres were retired in order three times by the Vikings' pitchers, but Streamwood also left 10 stranded runners in its other four at-bats.

"We just couldn't get the big hit today," Streamwood coach Ryan Lasota said. "We get bases-loaded (twice), and we couldn't get anyone in."

Streamwood avoided the shutout when the Vikings' right-fielder lost a line drive in the sun.

The Sabres' Chris Randel scored on the play on the hit credited to Ryan Fitzgerald.

But Owen stranded two runners to end the threat.

"We got one there, but were hoping to get more," Lasota said.

Ian Hanson capped the scoring with another two-out single for Geneva.

"Two-out hitting is huge," Wendell said. "It was the difference between winning and losing."