Baseball: Prospect strikes early, often in MSL win over Rolling Meadows
The Prospect baseball team scored early and often in their Mid-Suburban League crossover contest at Rolling Meadows Friday afternoon.
The Knights scored 7 runs in the first two innings, and they never looked back as they posted a 9-1 victory over the Mustangs, whose record fell to 7-2 on the season.
Prospect (5-4) jumped on Rolling Meadows starter Brock Ryan for 5 runs on 4 hits in the top of the first. Aiden Nelson led off with a single before he scored on an RBI double to left-center by John Bazula for a 1-0 lead.
Colin Fouch followed with a walk before an RBI single by Ryan Sheehan drove in Bazula for a 2-0 lead. Then senior Matt Jackson nailed a 3-run homer to left-center for a quick 5-0 advantage. In the top of the second, Nelson (2-for-2, walk, sacrifice bunt) singled, Matt Donnelly walked, and Bazula drove in both of them with his second double of the game.
"Our lead off guy (Nelson) started us off and we kind of had a string of good at-bats in the first two innings," said Prospect coach Chris Hoffman. "Matt Castaneda did an awesome job for five and two-thirds innings pounding the zone, and he kind of had them off balance using three pitches for strikes."
The Mustangs did get a solo homer from lead-off hitter Luke Schneider in the bottom of the first inning, but that was the only run they would score as they were outhit 7-5 in the game.
Jackson was happy to bounce back strong Friday after having some struggles at the plate recently. "Our No. 1 hitter (Nelson) has been starting us off well all year, and Donnelly has been following him up well as our No. 2 hitter," said Jackson. "For me the home run was really special because I've been going through a rough patch with my bat lately so I was happy to get the nerves out and get that out of my system."
Rolling Meadows reliever Aiden Gallucci had a strong outing for 4 2/3 innings. But the Knights struck again in the top of the sixth when Peyton Mulligan walked and Michael Foley got hit by a pitch to start the inning.
Foley scored on a one-out fielder's choice RBI by Donnelly before pinch-runner Jacob Miller scored on an error as the home plate umpire overruled the out call by the first-base umpire to make the score 9-1. Senior Tony Romanacee was Rolling Meadows' hitting star with a 3-for-3 day at the plate while teammate Josh Rappa was 2-for-3.
"Obviously it's always challenging going down 5-0 in the first inning, but I thought Aiden Gallucci did a really good job of coming out of the bullpen and he truly gave our offense a chance," said Rolling Meadows coach Niko Klebosits, whose team had seven left-handed hitters. "But we're going to learn from it, we start conference on Monday, and I like where our guys are at. He (Castaneda) had a three-pitch mix, and we just weren't able to jump out on front."