Hampshire gets past Johnsburg

Admittedly, it was the shortest hit ball Hampshire senior Mario Guerrero has had to drive in a run.

The 25-foot dribbler in the bottom of the sixth inning Wednesday drove in the game-winning run and sparked a 3-run inning as the Whip-Purs defeated Johnsburg, 6-4, in Fox Valley Conference Fox Division play.

“With two strikes, I just tried to make contact with the ball. I did just that,” Guerrero said.

Hampshire (9-14-1, 3-11-1) led 3-0 heading into the top of the sixth. The Skyhawks (12-15, 4-10) tied the game on a Kevin Kordik 2-run double and an RBI infield single from Christian Pascente.

Jacob Kuhn, who went 2-for-3, singled to lead off Hampshire’s sixth inning. After a strikeout and a groundout, Brandon Wescher singled to put runners on first and second. Pinch-runner Edmond Mazur stole second before Guerrero’s dribbler, which he beat out, drove in Kuhn. Mazur scored on a balk for a 5-3 lead. After a Johnsburg error continued the inning, Piotr Barnas singled to center to drive in Guerrero for a 6-3 lead.

“They responded well and didn’t panic,” Hampshire coach John Sarna said. “They’ve done that all year. I always feel like this team is able to come back.”

The Skyhawks got the tying run to the plate in the seventh, but Wescher was able to get two groundouts to end the game.

The Whip-Purs took advantage of Johnsburg mistakes to build their early lead, scoring an unearned run in the first and fourth and scoring on a wild pitch in the fifth.

Daniel Keller (2-1) earned the victory. The junior left-hander threw 6 innings, allowing 7 hits and 3 runs. He walked 3, hit 1 and struck out 2.

“He got a little tired (in the sixth) and got behind two good hitters,” Sarna said. “He was able to get out of that inning and we were able to get the opportunity to turn it over to Brandon to shut them down.”

BJ Garcia took the loss for Johnsburg. He gave up 5 runs, 3 earned, in 5 innings.