Geneva’s White blanks West Aurora

Geneva’s baseball team is off and running this season — figuratively and literally.

The Vikings improved their record to 6-0 with Saturday’s 4-0 nonconference victory over visiting West Aurora (2-4) behind senior pitcher Drew White’s 4-hit complete game.

Despite giving up a 1-out infield single to Bobby Drager and watching Gunnar Swanson reach on an error to put runners on first and second in the top of the seventh, White came back and retired pinch-hitter Josh Livingston on a comebacker to the mound before recording his eighth strikeout to end the game.

“Drew did a nice job all game,” Geneva coach Matt Hahn said of White, who upped his mound mark to 2-0. “After the error, I just told him to keep making good pitches. He’s got such a calm demeanor that he doesn’t let a whole lot around him affect him. That’s what you want out of your pitchers.”

“I’m kind of a loosey-goosey guy,” said White, who walked 1. “I just go with the flow and have a good time out there.”

Geneva grabbed a 2-0 lead in the second off of junior left-hander Tanner Reichardt.

Designated hitter Bobby Hess reached on an error, stole second, and came across on Jake Weede’s 2-out RBI single for the game’s first run. After Weede stole second and Andy Francis walked, Matt Brandys slashed a run-scoring single to left to make it 2-0.

In the fourth, Francis lined a first-pitch, 1-out home run off the netting in left for a 3-0 lead. Brandys, who went 3-for-3 with a walk, followed with a single, then stole second and third before scoring on an infield error.

Brandys also had 3 of the team’s 5 stolen bases, as the Vikings put continuous pressure on the Blackhawks’ pitching and defense.

“I do a timing thing where I count 1-2-3-4 in my head every time I’m on base, and he (Reichardt) was at a two every time he was throwing to the plate and wasn’t mixing it up,” said Brandys. “Coach Hahn is real big on aggressiveness.

“You saw when we put pressure on them, he left pitches up and our hitters were taking advantage of it,” added Brandys.

West Aurora’s best threat came in the third when catcher Gunnar Swanson led off with a single. After a stolen base and balk moved the runner to third, White got a much-needed strikeout and eventually escaped unscathed.

“We had a runner on third with nobody out and our 8-9-1 hitters coming up, and didn’t get him in,” said Blackhawks coach John Reeves. “We had our opportunities early but didn’t take advantage of them.”

The game ended in bizarre fashion, as the Blackhawks appeared to load the bases after Adam Lipscomb was hit by a pitch.

However, Lipscomb was sent back to the batter’s box when the umpires ruled that he failed to make an effort to get out of the way of White’s 1-2 pitch.

White’s next offering, a fastball down the middle, ended the contest much to the chagrin of the Blackhawks.

“He did flash a 3-0 count before that pitch,” Reeves said of the plate umpire. “I saw him staring at the third-base coaches’ box and I was like, ‘is that really the count?’ By the time it all registered, it was too late.

“It all kind of fell apart there in the last couple minutes, at least from an umpiring standpoint, but they’ll make errors just like everybody else.”

White, and the rest of the Vikings, realized the game was over.

“I don’t know what the umpire was thinking telling him 3-0 but it was interesting for sure,” said White.