Batavia finds winning formula against Burlington Central

While the Illinois High School Association’s change of bats will likely keep home run totals down this season, there is a tried and true method of winning baseball games that remains intact.

It’s called strong pitching, solid defense, and timely hitting.

Batavia (2-0) excelled in all 3 categories on the way to a 3-2, 8-inning nonconference triumph over visiting Burlington Central (2-2) Saturday.

Junior Billy Zwick provided the game-winning hit with a 2-out RBI single, knocking home sophomore Micah Coffey, who had reached on a 1-out double.

“I was just looking for something good to hit and have a chance to get in that game-winning run,” said Zwick. “It’s a great feeling. I’ve only had one (game-winning hit) and it was back in 11-year-old baseball. It has been a while but it was awesome.”

“Billy got a nice shot down the line,” said Batavia coach Matt Holm, whose team had squandered an opportunity to put the game away in the bottom of the seventh inning. “We’ve been trying to emphasize timely hitting.”

Junior right-hander Luke Horton (1-0) picked up the victory for the Bulldogs, who also received good mound efforts from starter Austin Higgins and lefty reliever Anthony Carby.

“Fantastic pitching,” said Holm. “We wanted to keep everybody at or around 55-60 pitches. The key is we’re not walking people, we’re keeping people off-balance, and we’re playing pretty solid defense.

“Everybody has been saying all along that you’ve got to play solid defense and not give people chances. That’s the way you’re going to win and keep the score down.”

Batavia grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first when Danny Ritchason doubled and later scored on an error, then tacked on another run in the second on Robbie Bowman’s RBI triple off of Rockets starting pitcher Zach Ranney.

Burlington Central sliced the deficit in half in the third on Tanner Scott’s RBI double.

In the sixth, the Rockets loaded the bases with nobody out, as Ray Hunnicutt led off with a single, Cody Wallace doubled, and Scott walked before Kevin Zasada’s sacrifice fly sent Hunnicutt across with the tying run.

Wallace suffered the loss in relief for the Rockets, who were unable to come up with the key hit.

“We played well,” said Rockets coach Kyle Nelson. “It was one of those days where we got a good effort and we played pretty decent defense. We made a couple mistakes here and there but what really killed us was looking at strike three with people on base today.

“If we put the ball in play just a couple more times with two strikes, it’s probably a little bit of a different game. That’s something that is correctable, so we’ll get to work on that.”

Bowman, Horton, and sophomore Laren Eustace each added doubles for the Bulldogs, who play host to Willowbrook Tuesday.

Batavia also won the JV nightcap, 13-5, as Anthony Carby went 4-for-4 with a pair of triples and an RBI, Aaron Hurd was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and an RBI, and Tom Doyle pitched 3 innings of 2-run ball to record the victory.

“It’s important to get off to a nice start,” said Zwick. “It can set the tone for the rest of the season.”