Huntley keeps its Fox hopes alive
The Huntley baseball team kept hope alive.
Prairie Ridge, the defending Class 4A state champion, has already clinched a share of the Fox Division title in the Fox Valley Conference, but Huntley kept afloat its bid to share the division championship by rallying from a 5-1 deficit to defeat the visiting Wolves 8-5 Wednesday.
The comeback win pulled Huntley (25-6-1, 11-3) within a game of Prairie Ridge (27-7, 12-2) with one game remaining for each team. If Prairie Ridge defeats visiting Grayslake Central on Friday, the Wolves win the Fox Division outright. A Prairie Ridge loss combined with a Huntley win at Johnsburg on Friday would split the title.
By virtue of the victory, Huntley took two of the three games played by the rivals this season, but the Fox Valley Conference does not use head-to-head victories as a tiebreaker.
"I told our guys we were going to win two out of three every series if not sweep everybody, and we won a series from everybody in conference," Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. "We put ourselves in position. We can only keep our fingers crossed for Grayslake, and we have to take care of business against a good Johnsburg team. We have our work cut out for us, but at least we put ourselves in position. I'm proud of our guys for doing that."
Whether or not Huntley gets the division split it seeks, the victory against Prairie Ridge was sweet for the Red Raiders and starting pitcher Tanner Funke, whose 2-run home run to right field in the fifth inning gave Huntley its first lead, 6-5.
"My goals in the preseason were to win a sectional and win our division but, most importantly, I wanted to beat those guys two out of three," Funke said of the Wolves. "They swept us last year and there was no way in (heck) I was going to let it happen again."
The score was tied 1-1 in the second inning before the Wolves tagged Funke for 4 runs, keyed by Nolan Jacoby's 2-run double. However, Huntley scored once in the third inning and pulled within 5-4 in the fourth, thanks to leadoff man Carlos Alvarez's 2-run single. Wednesday's at-bats were the first at the varsity level for the sophomore.
"It was (Jakubowski's) decision to have me lead off, so I took advantage of it," Alvarez said.
After taking the lead on Funke's home run in the fifth inning, the Red Raiders added 2 more runs in the sixth, highlighted by Craig Lipp's RBI single and 1 of 4 Prairie Ridge errors.
On the mound, Funke (8-3) kept the Wolves scoreless for the final five innings to earn the complete-game victory.
"I think I knew the game was over when I hit (the home run)," Funke said. "They seemed so down about it. And it kind of pumped me up to get me through those last innings. It helped out a lot."
Prairie Ridge second division loss in two seasons was explained simply by coach David Haskins.
"I thought we just made too many mental mistakes," he said. "On a hit-and-run we get hit in the foot (on the bases), getting picked off - that's all mental stuff. Too many mental mistakes to a quality team."