Cary-Grove socks it to Dundee-Crown
The Cary-Grove baseball team ended the suspense before much could build.
Leadoff man Matt Byrne opened Thursday’s game by lacing a single and the Trojans didn’t stop until they had put 18 hits on the board against four Dundee-Crown pitchers in a 14-7 Class 4A DeKalb sectional semifinal victory.
Cary-Grove (28-9) scored 4 runs in the first inning and led 13-0 through the top of the fourth. The Trojans cumulatively went 18-for-35 at the plate, raising their team batting average from .358 to .364.
“We couldn’t have asked for a better hitting day,” said C-G first baseman Alex Posey, who went 4-for-4 with a double and a walk. “Guys got on base and we hit really well with runners in scoring position.”
In fact, seven different Trojans knocked in at least a run, paced by Michael Vilardo. The senior shortstop finished 3-for-3 with 4 RBI, 2 walks and 2 steals. The Richmond recruit blasted a 2-run home run over the fence in left field in the fourth inning, upping his area-best totals to 15 home runs and 57 RBI.
Vilardo needs one more longball to tie the Fox Valley area single-season home run record of 16, set just last year by Jacobs graduate Ben Albano.
“As the visitors, to get up and keep adding on was definitely great,” said Vilardo, who has scored 50 runs in 37 games. “A sign of a good team is closing it out.”
The victory advances Cary-Grove to Saturday’s sectional title game against Streamwood (29-6) at 11 a.m. The Trojans seek their third sectional title in six seasons. Streamwood seeks the first sectional title in program history.
Left-hander Matt Panek (8-0) earned the win for the Trojans, though he was chased in the fourth inning. The Ohio State signee issued 3 walks and allowed a single to Kirk Hanselmann and a 2-run double by Jimmy Griffin before he was lifted in favor of lefty reliever Ryan Kaveney.
The second batter Kaveney faced, Steve Schwartz, zeroed in on a fastball and drilled it over the left-field fence for a grand slam. His fourth home run of the season capped a 7-run fourth inning that reinvigorated Dundee-Crown (24-14).
“It was just right in my wheelhouse,” Schwartz said of the pitch. “I wasn’t trying to hit a home run. I was just trying to keep the inning alive.”
Schwartz’s blast drew the Chargers within 13-7 with half the game yet to play. It also closed the book on Panek, who allowed 5 earned runs on 5 hits with 3 walks and 3 strikeouts.
However, Kaveney settled in and shut the door. He retired the next two hitters to end the fourth inning and faced the minimum in his final 3 innings of work, courtesy of a nifty double play turned in the fifth inning by Vilardo and Byrne at second base.
The Trojans figured they were going to face Dundee-Crown junior left-handed pitcher Mike Hazelhurst (7-1), who was coming off a complete-game shutout against Huntley last Saturday. Senior Mike Lodi (6-3) instead got the start. The right-hander was knocked out of the game after ⅓ of an inning due to 4 hits and 2 walks, which led to 4 earned Cary-Grove runs in the first inning.
“We took batting practice from our left-handed pitching coach because we thought Hazelhurst would pitch,” said C-G senior Nick Richter, whose 3-for-3 afternoon raised his team-best batting average to .463. “But it doesn’t matter because we’re clicking on all cylinders offensively right now and this was an example.”
The Dundee-Crown coaching staff opted not to start Hazelhurst, who had not pitched on four days rest all season.
“We knew we could get a couple of innings out of him,” said Jon Sawyer, who coached his last game at D-C and will next teach at Grayslake North. “We thought maybe we could get through it with other guys and finish with him. We try to put kids in position to be successful, and it wouldn’t be fair to put him out there. Emotional games are tougher to recover from. He just wasn’t ready to go.”
Hazelhurst did enter the game with two outs in the second inning, but by that point the Trojans had already roughed up reliever Jordan Kalous for 3 more runs to take a 7-0 lead. The lefty didn’t fare much better, allowing 6 earned runs on 5 hits in 2 innings.
“They are a great hitting team,” Sawyer said of the Trojans. “They mash the ball one through nine.”