Baseball: Small ball helps South Elgin split series vs. West Aurora
Using small ball to take the lead in the fourth inning and more conventional scoring methods in the seventh to put the game away, South Elgin handed West Aurora its third loss of the season with an 8-1 Upstate Eight West Division Conference decision Tuesday.
A well-executed bunted and aggressive base running plated three Storm runs in the top of the fourth. Five runs crossed the plate in a five-hit, eight-batter rally during South Elgin’s half of the seventh.
The squads split the two-game series. West Aurora won Monday’s game 5-4.
Wiggling out of jams in the second, third and fifth innings, Storm junior Zach Barkho pitched five and two-thirds innings to notch the win. The southpaw struck out seven, issued no walks and scattered six hits.
West Aurora’s Jake Niedzwiedz spoiled Barkho’s shutout bid with a sacrifice fly in the fifth that scored Mason Atkins.
“We're still finding out how we need to go about winning games and (small ball) is one thing that we have in our toolbox,” said South Elgin coach Jim Kating. “We executed today. We had to put pressure on the other team to be able to do what we needed to do.”
West Aurora (16-3, 9-2) starter Zach Toma faced only 10 batters in the first three innings with only Storm backstop Nathan Robertson reaching base on a Blackhawks infield error.
Junior Jake Sparacino opened South Elgin’s half of the fourth by lacing a single to left center field. Four batters later, Jacob Roberston came to the plate with the bases loaded. The junior laid down a sacrifice bunt to the left side of the infield allowing Sparacino to score.
“I told myself that I’ve got to do my job,” said Robertson. “I haven't been hitting the ball too much lately, so I just wanted to contribute anyway I could.”
During Quentin Albert’s at-bat, a pickoff throw to third base went into left field, bringing in another South Elgin (11-9, 7-1) run. Toma walked Albert. The senior made the turn at first base and continued to second drawing a throw from West Aurora catcher Brayden Jones that allowed Justin Pold to cross the plate for the final Storm run of the inning.
“That one inning got away from us. We had a few moments where we panicked a little bit and you know, gave them a little more than they had earned,” said West Aurora coach John Reeves.
“I feel like we all were on the same page coming in. We knew we needed to play small ball in order to win this game,” said Barkho. “Coming from yesterday, we knew the big shots weren't going to work.”
In the second and third innings, West Aurora had runners in scoring position with only one out. Barkho ended the threats by retiring the next two batters.
“They had a good pitcher going, and early on that we had some opportunities to drive in some runs and unfortunately we didn't.,” Reeves said.
“Our starting pitchers did a great job today. Zach pounded the zone. He worked ahead,” Keating said. ”Also, our defense also made some real good plays behind him.”
“My off-speed was working a lot today and my fastball was there when I needed it,” Barkho said. “We were starting out with a lot of off-speed trying to get West Aurora off-balance.”