Baseball: Graba silences Metea Valley’s bats in latest Fremd win
Fremd’s Will Graba made sure that the Vikings stayed hot.
Graba threw six solid innings and beared down the one time he got into trouble to stymie Metea Valley in Fremd’s 11-1, 6-inning win in Palatine Thursday.
Graba allowed just two hits and one run. He also got solid defensive plays from shortstop Cooper Nelson and center fielder Johnny O’Brien who made a pair of great catches.
Graba can also include himself in that defensive pat on the back for his play in the third.
He fielded a bunt with runners on first and second. After getting instructions from catcher Caleb Yoon, he threw a perfect strike to Will Klimas at third for the force out. After loading the bases on a hit batter, Graba followed with a strikeout and inducing a groundout.
“I felt comfortable out there thanks to Caleb,” said Graba who is a junior and improved to 2-0 on the season.
“He called a great game for me. I lost control of my curveball for a bit. But I faced adversity and worked through it.”
Graba was also the beneficiary of a Vikings offense that pounded out 10 hits and scored 11 runs.
“Will pitched very well and we played very good defensively,” Fremd coach Chris Piggott said. “We had a slow start and made some adjustments. We put the ball in play hard and found some holes and took advantage of some of their mistakes.”
The Vikings (5-0-1) and the Nelson brothers helped Fremd manufacture a 2-0 lead.
Chase Nelson had a one-out single that was quickly followed by a single by older brother Cooper. The pair each moved up on a wild pitch with Chase scoring on a second wild pitch. Cooper then touched home on a fielder’s choice ground out by Yoon.
Fremd tallied another run in the third. Cole Seidel singled, went to second on a bunt by Tyler Schafer, third on a wild pitch and then scored on Vinny Panzino’s infield single to make it 3-0.
“We just put in a lot of work in the offseason,” said Panzino, who had a pair of hits on the day. “I would say the mindset here is a lot different. It is all connecting.”
Metea Valley (7-2) got a run back in the fourth after failing to score in the previous inning when the Mustangs loaded the bases with one out. Connor Lavery doubled off the left field fence to score Kayden Nimer who had singled earlier to make it 3-1.
Fremd then went on an offensive spurt to put the game away.
The Vikings rallied twice in the fifth. O’Brien and Hoon each singled and both would later score when Dennis Bond reached on an infield error for a 5-1 lead.
Fremd then batted around in the sixth for 6 runs. Schader, Panzino, Chase Nelson, Yoon and Seidel all had hits in the inning. The Vikings also took advantage of two Mustangs errors.
“I think we are just seeing the ball right now,” said Yoon, who had 3 RBI on the day.
“We are just doing a good job of attacking. I think we are being a lot more aggressive than last year. We were a little inexperienced last year. But this year, having a whole year under our belt, it has been really helpful.”
Metea Valley coach Steve Columbe said his Mustangs had an off day thanks to the play of the Vikings.
“We did not play our best game,” Columbe said. “They made every play defensively. They made the plays and we did not. Sometimes you just have these days.”