Baseball: Greiwe, Palatine quiet Prospect, move into tie for MSL West lead

Jett Greiwe made sure Palatine landed safely Wednesday.

Greiwe made big pitches when he and his team needed them to end several threats as Palatine held off Prospect 4-1.

It was the second win in as many days for Palatine (12-9, 4-2) with the Pirates beating Prospect 6-3 on Tuesday. Palatine’s win also moved them into a tie for first in the MSL West with Barrington, which lost to Fremd 4-3.

“Who would have thought we would be tied for first,” said Palatine coach Brent Carroll, whose team plays Barrington twice next week.

“It has been a constant battle all season, just competing against ourselves at times. But I give our guys credit for starting to get comfortable in these moments and finding a way to finish.”

The Pirates would not have been in that position had Greiwe not made big pitches when needed in his six-inning stint. Greiwe got himself out of major jams, forcing Prospect to strand 12 runners, including 7 in scoring position.

“I went out there and completely trusted the guys behind me,” Greiwe said. “I came through in clutch situations and did what I had to do.”

Greiwe also had huge help from co-pilot Tyler Kreuz, the senior left-hander who entered to game with the bases loaded, two outs and a 2-0 count. Kreuz, who by his own admission is not a strikeout pitcher, induced a fly ball to right field which Joey Kurey made a nice running catch on to end the game.

“I can’t tell you how many times I have been put in this situation,” Kreuz said. “I need to get out of it. That’s my goal. I trust my team to help me.”

Palatine took a 1-0 lead in the second, scoring without a hit.

Ben Ratajczak walked and courtesy runner Chase Klipowicz stole second. Klipowicz went to third on Anthony DeSalvo’s grounder to second and then scored on Nick Salata’s grounder to third.

Prospect (11-8, 3-3) parlayed a pair of singles for a run in the third. Aiden Nelson led off with a single and stole second. He came scooting home on Matt Donnelly’s single to tie the game at 1-1.

Palatine took the lead for good in its half of the fourth. Owen Hong walked and went to third on a single by Ratajczak. Hong would then score on DeSalvo’s ground out to make it 2-1.

The Pirates doubled their run output in their next at-bat.

Ryan Christopher and Greiwe each walked to start the fifth. Maddux Heilman followed with a perfect two-strike bunt to load the bases. Joey Kurey was hit by a pitch to score a run and Ratajczak added a sacrifice fly to make it 4-1.

“I was just following my approach,” Ratajczak said. “I didn’t get on top of that one, but I still got the job done. It was an important run.”

Prospect coach Chris Hoffman said his team has been struggling recently to get key hits when needed.

“We just didn’t come through with clutch hits when we needed them,” Hoffman said. “Some of them were right at guys. It just hasn’t been our day the last couple of them.”