Baseball: Larkin takes opener over Elgin
It was a made-to-order performance for the Larkin boys baseball team on Tuesday night with a healthy helping of solid pitching, a side of flawless defense, and a few manufactured runs as a garnishment.
Those ingredients gave the Royals a 4-1 win in the first game of their 3-game crosstown series against rival Elgin at Trout Park.
"That is definitely a recipe for success," Larkin coach Matt Esterino said. "When you throw strikes, pick it up on defense, and put the ball in play to scratch out some runs good things are going to happen. It's real nice to get that first win in the series, but we can't get fat and lazy off one win. It's going to be a battle the next 2 games."
The game moved at a brisk rate finishing in just 1 hour and 48 minutes.
Larkin lefthander Max Anderson cruised through the Elgin lineup, scattering just 6 hits while striking out 7 and walking 2 batters in a complete game effort for the win.
"Everything was working and I just started cruising," Anderson said. "I was pounding the outside with my breaking stuff and busting it inside with my fastball. I could feel when I was warming up. I just got into a real good tempo. This a big momentum boost for us."
Anderson evened his record at 3-3.
"It's nothing new to us," Esterino said. "We've become use to seeing this out of Max. He just fills up the strike zone and makes quality pitches when he needs them. When things get tight the game slows down for him in a good way."
Anderson helped himself at the plate with an RBI single in the third inning that scored Jackson Reuter, who had led off with a single, for the first run of the game. Anderson later added a sacrifice fly.
The Royals (8-15) added an unearned run in the fifth inning to make it 2-0.
Elgin (6-23) cut the lead in half with a run in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Cameron Kendall. However, the Maroons wasted an opportunity to score more. The first 3 runners reached base in the inning, but 2 were picked off to kill the rally.
"A team like us that struggles to score runs can't afford to make outs on the bases," Elgin coach Dave Foerster said. "Just a case of being too aggressive and trying to make something happen. It's unfortunate because that inning could have changed the game. What it came down to was they made the plays they needed to and we didn't. Their pitcher commanded the strike zone. I wasn't disappointed with our approach. We had some nice swings, but hit a lot of balls right at them and they were really good on defense."
The Royals tacked on an unearned run in the 6th inning and another run on Anderson's sac fly in the 7th inning. Both runs were a result of leadoff walks.
Matt Turner was the tough-luck losing pitcher for Elgin. He gave up just 2 runs in 5 innings.