Baseball: Torres, Waubonsie top DeKalb
The last time Hunter Kriese and DeKalb faced Shane Torres and Waubonsie Valley, the Barbs claimed the DuPage Valley Conference tournament title.
Torres avenged last year’s 0-for-3 performance against Kriese in the title game with a pair of doubles in his first two at-bats, powering the Warriors’ 9-1 win over the Barbs on Monday in DeKalb.
The win was the fourth in a row for Waubonsie Valley (9-7 overall, 4-0 DVC) to start conference play after sweeping Metea Valley. The Warriors started 3-6 but have won six of their last seven.
“Once you win, it’s very easy to get the momentum going,” Torres said. “That’s been a big part for us.”
The Warriors pushed across three runs, two unearned, in the first two innings off Kriese and the Barbs (9-4-1, 1-3 DVC). Torres doubled home Scott Gillen for the first run of the game. Torres’ courtesy runner, Liam Edelman, scored the first of his three runs on a two-out throwing error by second baseman Benny Probst.
In the second inning, Parker Howland reached on an error and scored on a double by Torres, this one in almost the same spot off the fence in center field.
Kriese gave up eight runs, four earned, in 5⅓ innings. He struck out eight and walked four, allowing eight hits. DeKalb coach Josh Latimer said it wasn’t Kriese’s best performance but he pitched better than the scoreboard indicated.
“He wasn’t as sharp as he was last week against (Naperville North in a 2-1 win), but you’re not going to have your best stuff every single day,” Latimer said. “He kept us in that game.”
Cole Ruggeri pitched five innings for the win. The Barbs broke through in the first. Probst singled, then Caden Smith got his second hit of the game off him. After Evan Johnson walked, Braydon Martin was hit with two outs, forcing in the only run of the game.
“Cole was really good on the mound and obviously it starts there,” Waubonsie Valley coach Bryan Acevedo said. “He lost it at times but his changeup was pretty sharp. When he was in the zone with the fastball it was kind of dominating today.”
Latimer said he felt the Barbs had chances to really cause damage in the first, second and fifth against Ruggeri but wasted the opportunities.
Smith singled and Johnson doubled, setting up runners and second and third with one out. But Ruggeri struck out Kriese, the cleanup hitter, and got Martin out to escape the jam.
The Barbs loaded the bases behind a one-out single by Graham Olson and a two-out hit by pitch by Probst and a walk by Smith, but Ruggeri got Gavin Cheney to ground out to third.
Ruggeri allowed two earned runs and six hits in five innings. He struck out four.
Howland and Jack Roberts had two hits each, Torres and Nate Cerilli drove in two runs apiece, and Howland and Gillen scored two runs each.
“When we play good baseball, we’re a decent baseball team,” Acevedo said. “That’s kind of been our struggle a little bit, just being that consistent team that comes out and throws strikes and outs the ball in play. That last couple of games we’ve sort of done some of that, and that’s led to the good start in conference.”