Baseball: Anderson fans 19, shuts out Elgin
Larkin pitcher Max Anderson etched his name in the IHSA record books in an 8-0 victory over Elgin at Trout Park Wednesday.
The left-hander used a well-located fastball and an array of breaking pitches to strike out 19 in a 2-hit victory that clinched the crosstown series for the Royals.
The senior struck out the first 12 batters of the game, the first two of which occurred Monday before lightning caused a first-inning suspension until Wednesday.
Anderson's 12 consecutive strikeouts put him in a three-way tie for seventh most in state history, according to published records on the IHSA website.
Multiple former Larkin players and coaches contacted Wednesday believed the 19-strikeout performance to be a school record, but all-time program records are not available.
Anderson said he realized he had fanned 12 consecutively as the fifth inning was about to start.
"I thought, 'Well, now you've got to make something of this.' I just kept doing what I was doing. The whole game I felt loose. The fastball was working. I was hitting corners. The curveball was there, hitting the outside corner, going in off the hands."
Anderson issued 4 walks and kept the winless Maroons guessing.
"He did a heck of a job mixing up all pitches and all locations and kept our hitters on their toes," Elgin first-year coach Cody Beck said. "He just had it. Our hitters were doing what they normally do but just missing. Tip your cap to him."
Anderson pumped his fist after the final out, a strikeout, of course.
"That's just Max being Max," Larkin first-year coach Niko Morado said. "Big game, he stepped up and was ready to go for it. It was something he really wanted. He was just locked in and pounding the zone."
Anderson (2 RBI), Tayshon Erdman, Sebastian Nava and Thomas Woodruff each delivered 2 hits in a 10-hit attack. Woodruff tripled and drove in 2 runs.
Larkin (4-16, 4-11) won the second game of the twinight doubleheader 10-0 in six innings to sweep the 3-game Upstate Eight Conference series.
Winning pitcher Zach Hubbard held Elgin (0-18, 0-15) to a lone hit, did not issue a walk and struck out 3 in 6 innings.
Anderson had 3 hits and drove in 4 runs. Nava contributed 3 RBI. Erdman went 2-for-4 with a double and scored twice.
"I always stay loose up there and try to hit my pitches," Erdman said.
Beck addressed the Maroons for 20 minutes after the sweep.
"Right now it's just getting them to drive themselves and push themselves, readjust the mental focus because right now they're kind of lost," the Elgin coach said. "So they just have to start from square one again. They are a physically talented team, but right now they're in their head."