Baseball: Prairie Ridge gets the Golden touch in FVC win over Crystal Lake South
If there was something productive happening for Prairie Ridge’s offense, Riley Golden likely had a hand in it.
The Wolves’ No. 9 hitter doubled in a run in the second, bunted for a single and scored in the fourth and singled and scored again in the seventh.
Golden’s at-bat in the sixth, which resulted in a one-out walk, was just as crucial. That led to a three-run inning that broke a tie and sparked Prairie Ridge past Crystal Lake South 10-5 Monday in their Fox Valley Conference baseball game.
“Coming off our first game with South (10-7 loss Friday), it was important to get our bats going early,” Golden said. “We needed to attack and keep the bats going, and it was great to see all the other boys get going too. We just kept on the momentum and stayed on the gas. That was important here.”
The Wolves (7-2, 1-1 FVC) were tied with the Gators (8-1, 2-1) at 4-4 in the top of the sixth with one out when Golden drew a walk. Brennan Coyle also walked and Gabe Porter singled Golden in. Karson Stiefer walked and Connor Pollasky doubled for a three-run lead.
Freshman Owen Satterlee, who minimized a tough situation with one unearned run in the fifth, was rejuvenated and worked a perfect sixth with two strikeouts.
“That was an incredible confidence booster,” said Satterlee, who struck out four in three innings. “When you know your boys got your back and they rally behind you it’s an incredible feeling. I couldn’t have done it without any of them.
“It was an incredible feeling to have my teammates behind me and supporting me through the entire process. Every single pitch, they were like, ‘We got you. We know you can do this.’ "
Golden singled with one out in the seventh, starting another three-run rally. Golden had warmed up for the seventh in the bullpen, but told Wolves coach Glen Pecoraro to leave Satterlee in. Pecoraro already had decided to do that with a 10-4 lead.
“(Satterlee) has been great as a freshman,” Pecoraro said. “He’s filled up the strike zone. We’ve put him in in a lot of tough moments and he’s really responded.
“He has a little more energy (after the sixth). We had Riley warmed up just in case, but we were able to put three more runs up, so that was bit. I felt a little bit better not having to go to (Golden).”
Stiefer knocked in three runs, while Pollasky and Porter each drove in two. Leadoff man Brennan Coyle was 2 for 2 and reached base five times, scoring three runs.
The Gators fell behind 4-2 in the top of the fourth, but scored one in the fourth and tied it in the fifth. Carson Trivellini singled in a run, but was left on first base when Satterlee ended the inning on two flyouts.
“In that fifth inning we had a chance against (Satterlee) and he snuck out of it,” South coach Brian Bogda said. “That’s kind of how the day was, we were kind of one step behind.
“I was proud of our effort to bring it back to even, we battled and grinded out at-bats there. We had some chances to do some things and didn’t get the hit. There are some things we could have done better. But kudos to Ridge, they executed the little things they do, getting bunts down and taking extra bases and stuff. That was the difference in the game.”
South’s CJ Regillio had a triple and homer and Trivellini also had two hits.
Pecoraro said Golden has missed some time recently with nagging injuries and he was glad to have him back in the No. 9 spot.
“I told him in the 9 spot, I’m going to ask you to bunt,” Pecoraro said. “I want you to see a lot of pitches. He really came through with two strikes and had some great at-bats. That’s a nice luxury when you have a guy like that in the 9 spot with production.”
Golden gave credit to Stiefer, Pollasky and others for big hits as well.
“We kept the momentum going,” Golden said. “Owen did an amazing job keeping us in that game and allowing us to take that lead. I put my faith in Owen. Big win for that guy, great job on his part.”