Geneva fends off Kaneland's rally
What a difference a turn in the rotation made for A.J. Sarantopulos.
In his last start Saturday at West Aurora, Sarantopulos fell behind 8-0 after an inning. Wednesday against Kaneland it took two innings for the score to again be 8-0 - only this time it was Geneva in control.
The Vikings scored 5 runs in the first and 3 in the second, building a big lead that they wound up needing nearly every run. Kaneland closed an 11-0 deficit to 11-9 before the Vikings held on for a 12-9 victory, their second straight in the three-game series.
"You never want to see that," said Geneva junior Alex Sroka, who joined teammate Cory Hofstetter with 3 hits. "You never want to let a lead like that get away from you, but at the same time I think we showed how much of a team we are. And how when things aren't going our way, we're going to come back and we're not going to give up and we're going to play 7 innings of baseball."
Sarantopulos improved to 2-1 and bounced back from Saturday's loss to West Aurora. He only allowed 2 hits in the first 4 innings before tiring in the fifth.
"He was injured last year, it is a slow progression, it was definitely a marked improvement (from Saturday)," Geneva coach Matt Hahn said. "I think he got a little tired and started leaving the ball up and a good hitting team showed what they can do."
Kaneland (5-3, 0-2) will try to salvage the final game of the series today at Geneva (6-1, 2-0). The Knights got a pair of solo home runs from Jake Fiedler and Jay Levita - their first of the year - to ignite a comeback that turned a game that looked headed for the 10-run rule into a nail-bitter.
"We did a nice job making things happen and making them make plays," Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said. "We definitely didn't back down at all, but we can't start a ballgame that way, ever. You can't spot somebody 11 runs and come back, but we did a good job attempting."
Geneva jumped on starter Troy Pritchard. Sroka drove in the first two runs with a double to left center. Ryan Mallon doubled the lead to 4-0 with a 2-run triple to right field. No. 8 hitter Jason Adams continued the blasts from the bottom part of the order with an RBI double to deep left.
Jack Delabar just missed a grand slam off reliever Ty Hammer in the second, ending up with a 3-run double.
Eric Renner's 2-run double was the big blow in a 3-run third inning that gave Geneva an 11-0 lead. Every Geneva starter had at least 1 hit.
"We're 6-1 and it seems like it has been somebody different every game," Hahn said. "When you win, hopefully you aren't relying on one or two guys all the time."
The Vikings scored their 12 runs without an RBI or extra-base hit from slugger Hofstetter, who won Tuesday's game with a 2-run homer.
All Hofstetter did Wednesday was get on base all 5 times with 3 singles and 2 walks. His power gets a lot of attention, but his on-base percentage is equally as impressive.
"If that's pitching around him we'll take it," Hahn said.
Hammer settled down after that, keeping Geneva off the scoreboard from the fourth inning until the seventh to give his offense a chance to catch up.
The Knights were in danger of going home early until Levita's fourth-inning blast made it an 11-2 game.
Kaneland then chased Sarantopulos with a 5-run fifth. Fiedler's single drove home the first run. Mike Pritchard's sacrifice fly to deep left nearly went out for a grand slam. Levita brought in 2 more runs with a double.
Kaneland kept the pressure on in the sixth. Joe Gura's 2-run single cut the lead to 11-9. He stole second, but with the tying run at the plate, John Hanson retired Kaneland's No. 4-5-6 hitters to maintain Geneva's 2-run lead.
The Vikings plated an insurance run in the top of the seventh, then Hanson picked up his first save with a scoreless seventh.
"They had all the momentum in the world and John threw a brick wall in front of them," Sroka said.
Sroka, who had 3 RBI, will square off against Steve Colombe in today's series finale.
"Slowly but surely we'll get there," Aversa said. "It's a long season. For some reason we always start out slow with Geneva. We're not too concerned. We're going to battle tomorrow and try to salvage the series."