North tops Central in Grayslake battle

There were 9 runs scored in the final inning, but there wasn’t one extra-base hit. There were however, three hit batters and three walks.

OK, so it wasn’t the cleanest game of the baseball season. But clearly it put a smile on the faces of visiting Grayslake North’s baseball team. This .500 team registered a big conference win on Friday by stopping rival Central 9-5.

North second baseman Nick Carmody actually led the getting-hit parade by taking one for his team to open the game. The junior paced the Knights’ attack with 3 hits and that one hit-by-pitch.

“We usually start out slowly,” Carmody said. “We played small ball to beat our rival.”

The crazy seventh inning obscured a good pitching matchup that had dominated the early innings. Both winner Tom Elias and Central southpaw Christian “Fogel” Edwards pitched well.

The 1-1 tie moved to the fifth inning before the Knights played small ball and registered a pair of runs. Carmody added a bunt single in the frame. Travis McKenzie drove in a run with a hit, and a bases loaded walk to hard-hitting shortstop Carl Russell gave the Knights the lead for good.

“We put the ball in play and did the little things,” said North coach Andy Strahan.

Strahan noted his leadoff hitter Carmody did his job.

“Nick does a nice job in that role,” he said. “He takes more pitches than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

Central (22-7, 15-2) cut the North lead to a single run in the home half of the fifth as senior Ryan Hamrick ripped a two-out double to chase home Nick Hosford. However, it clearly wasn’t the Rams’ finest hour considering the impressive season they have had.

“It was a rough day for the Rams,” said Central coach Troy Whalen. “But North played great. They stuck it to us.”

Whalen graciously saluted North’s pitcher Elias.

“I’ve known Tommy since he was 10 years old,” Whalen said. “He threw a lot of first-pitch strikes. The kid pitched a great game.”

North (14-14, 8-8) put a 6-spot on the board in the seventh. Three Central errors helped the visitors’ cause. So did RBI hits from Sammie Stanfel, Kyle McBrien and Carmody.

Whalen cleared his bench in the final inning as five pinch hitters came to the plate in the 3-run frame It wasn’t a bad plan. Those pinch-hitters went by the names of Freddie Landers, Justin Allen, Jackson Truskowski, AJ Hord and Erik Skutnick, and all of them reached base. Two runners scored after a player was hit by a pitch, and there was a bases-loaded walk as well.

“I ran out of pinch hitters,” Whalen joked. “But today wasn’t our day. You’ve got to have a short memory in baseball.”

Whalen will trot out his team again on Saturday for a game at North.

For the Knights it wasn’t all errors and walks. In the fourth inning, Carmody and shortstop Carl Russell turned a gorgeous double play.

“He’s a great shortstop,’’ Carmody said.