Baseball: Huntley blasts 11 extra-base hits in win over Prairie Ridge
Huntley's power-packed lineup, starting with the Bakes twins, can hit balls over and off fences without any help from the elements.
Facing the Red Raiders with a stiff breeze blowing out to right-center field made for a long afternoon for Prairie Ridge.
Huntley jumped out in the first with home runs by Brayden Bakes and Ryan Dabe and proceeded to rip 17 hits, 11 of which went for extra bases. The Raiders cruised to a 15-3, five-inning victory in Fox Valley Conference baseball Wednesday at Prairie Ridge.
Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski, who picked up his 400th win at the school and his 495th overall, was pleased with his team's approach.
"We saw (Wolves starter Trace) Vrbancic last year and we had some tendencies, guys looked over charts," Jakubowski said. "Our guys put some good swings on him.
"I want us to stay in the middle of the field instead of pull side and we did a better job of staying back through the middle and going the other way a little bit. We had better plate selection as a whole."
Huntley (10-1, 3-1 FVC) finished with six doubles, one triple and four homers, two from Brayden Bakes. Ryan Bakes, who bats leadoff, started the game with a double before Brayden homered.
In the second, Ryan tripled and Brayden doubled. In the third, they homered back to back for the third time this season.
"It's almost like when he does, I do too. It's a twin thing," Brayden Bakes said. "There's been a few times when I think hit a home run because he did and it never works out. I just go up and try to hit the ball hard.
"(The wind) gave us a few extra feet. We hadn't put that many runs on the board this year."
The winds were steadily in the high teens and gusted to near 25 mph. Dabe also hit a two-run homer in the first.
"It felt good. Trace threw his fastball a lot and we attacked fastball all game and we got a hold of it," Dabe said. "Second at-bat I got curveball early and fastball late and took it to the opposite field (for a double). The swing felt good today."
Prairie Ridge (4-8, 2-3) got an RBI double from Mason McKim in the first and Tyler Vasey ripped a solo home run in the third.
"I thought no lead was safe today," Jakubowski said. "That was evident when we put a 4-spot on them in the first and then they get a run back. I thought it was going to a high-scoring game.
"The wind aided in a few of those, there were a few where their outfielders would have made without the wind. But we drove the baseball, we had really good approaches."
Huntley's Parker Schuring did not feel his best and threw up before the game, but went four innings, striking out six and allowing two earned runs.
"It wasn't his greatest performance, but he gutted it out," Jakubowski said. "I told him a starter in MLB is going to have roughly 33 starts, a third of them you're not going to feel real good, a third of them you're going to feel OK and a third of them you're going to feel lights out.
"He gutted it out and gave us an opportunity to win. He struggled with his off-speed, so he was almost exclusively fastball. To only give up three runs in four innings with the wind blowing the way it was, I thought he did a really good job."
Wolves coach Glen Pecoraro felt his team needed to put up a better fight.
"We're going to have to play really well to be in the game and compete with them," Pecoraro said. "If we don't compete against a team like that, with the wind blowing out 20-30 mph, it's going to be a long day and that's exactly what happened. They found barrels on a windy day and we didn't."
Ryan Bakes finished a single shy of the cycle, Brayden Bakes had two homers and a double and Dabe had a double and homer.
"It was awesome. It feels nice for the team," Dabe said. "It's good momentum for teams we'll see later in the season like Brother Rice. We're going to be ready for those games."