Baseball: Defense lifts Huntley past Crystal Lake South
Huntley third baseman Jeff Heinrich's mission was to knock the ball down and keep it in the infield.
Heinrich got more than he bargained for.
With the game scoreless heading into the bottom of the third inning, Crystal Lake South's Scott Skvarek, Brent Chubb and Griffin Bright started the inning with singles to load the bases with nobody out.
South's No. 2 hitter, Ryan Parquette, rifled a shot down the third base line which seemed ticketed for left field and would give the Gators the lead.
But Heinrich dove to his right and snared the ball in the air and was able to double off Skvarek off third.
Heinrich's diving catch was a key play in the Red Raiders' 2-0 Fox Valley Conference baseball win over the host Gators in Crystal Lake Monday afternoon.
The win gives Huntley (26-5, 18-3) a 1-game lead in the FVC race. The Red Raiders close the regular season with a 3-game series against Cary-Grove while CL South finishes with a 3-game set against Prairie Ridge.
"Jeff's catch was certainly the play of the game," said Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski. "That ball goes through and South leads 2-0 and has runners on first and third and nobody out. It was a momentum changer and a heckuva play by Jeff. "
Heinrich, who made several outstanding plays in the game, explained his great catch.
"I knew the pitch was going to be off speed so I moved where I thought the ball would be hit," said Heinrich. "I just tried to anticipate where the ball was going to be hit. I just tried to knock the ball down. I just tried to minimize the damage in the inning."
Winning pitcher Nick Laxner, the beneficiary of 3 double plays, pitched 5 innings to earn the win. Laxner (4-0), who blanked the Gators (26-4, 17-4) while scattering 7 hits, struck out 2 with 1 walk.
"Jeff made some great plays and my defense overall was great," said Laxner. "The three double plays were huge. I pitched to contact and was able to throw strikes. My curveball and changeup were all working."
Closer Noah Konie pitched 2 scoreless innings to register his fifth save of the season.
"Nick was great and he did a great job of pitching to contact," said Jakubowski. "His change up was really working. Noah comes in like he has all season throwing hard and throwing strikes."
The Red Raiders scored single runs in the fourth and fifth on a sacrifice fly by Brad Maurer and a run-scoring single from Konie.
"Our main goal in conference play is to win 2 out of 3 games and win series," said Jakubowski. "We won 2 of 3 against a very good South team with pitching and defense. We held South to 2 runs in 22 innings. That is impressive. I see glimpses of our hitting coming around. ''
South, which left 6 runners on base, received 2 hits each from Bright and Noah Tyrell.
"They made bunch of nice defensive plays in key situations," said South coach Brian Bogda. "We didn't get any timely hits. These were three very good high school baseball games."