Crowley navigates victory for VH
In Pat Crowley’s last outing, he threw 107 pitches in 4 innings.
Vernon Hills head coach Jay Czarnecki said pitching coach Marshall “The Duke” Erickson took advantage of a rainout Saturday to get the sophomore southpaw back to the basics.
Crowley looked to get back to pitching Wednesday as he took the ball against visiting Grant in a North Suburban Prairie Division showdown and rematch of Tuesday’s close contest.
Crowley responded with what Czarnecki called his best outing of the year.
Vernon Hills won 3-0, as Crowley threw a complete-game shutout, scattering 7 hits, striking out five and walking one.
The Cougars improved to 19-6 in shutting out Grant for the second day in a row.
Vernon Hills was nearly flawless defensively in support of its young hurler. The combination of good pitching and solid defense allowed only one Bulldog base runner to reach third base. Offensively, Chris Marras had his second game-winning RBI in as many days.
Crowley led off the top of the first inning with a walk and promptly stole second. His brother, MJ Crowley, bunted him to third. Marras then drilled an RBI triple to deep left-center.
Grant’s Brent Spohr led off the top of the second with a base hit. But Cougars shortstop Jake Boyer initiated a 6-4-3 double play.
Vernon Hills struck again in the fourth. Tyler Feece reached on a single and, with one out, stole second. Designated hitter Ethan McGrew then hit a high chopper, which tipped of the glove of the shortstop and trickled into center, just far enough for Feece to score.
Grant got its leadoff man on again in the fifth, as Jared Helmich singled. But Crowley (5-1) again induced a groundball. A popout and groundball ended the inning.
In the Vernon Hills fifth, Marras’ single scored Brett Peterson, who started the inning by drawing a walk.
Grant threatened again in the seventh. The Bulldogs had runners on first and second after back-to-back hits, but Marras, Vernon Hills’ catcher, threw out a runner trying to steal third.
Carmel 1, Notre Dame 0: Nico Caracciolo’s sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh lifted the Corsairs in the East Suburban Catholic Conference game.
Carmel’s Quinten Sefcik and Notre Dame’s Danny Hyde each threw 6 shutout innings.
In the Carmel seventh, Sean Brennan walked and raced to third on John Salvi’s double. Alex Young was then walked intentionally to load the bases.
Caracciolo had a 13-pitch at-bat before hitting a flyball to center deep enough to score the speedy Brennan.
Blake Bucsa also had a double for Carmel.
Stevenson 14, Lake Forest 6: Jack Karras homered and singled for the visiting Patriots in their North Suburban Lake win.
Stevenson (15-8, 5-3) also got a 3-for-4 performance from Adam Walton, while Anthony Bozin went 2-for-4 with a double and 3 runs scored.
Matt Allen pitched 4 innings for the win.
Lake Forest’s Matt Lawrence homered, tripled and doubled.
Lakes 5, Prairie Ridge 1: Chris Hoffman threw a complete-game 3-hitter for the host Eagles in the nonconference game.
Hoffman allowed struck out six, while Nick Traska had a single and an RBI for Lakes (14-11).
Grayslake North 7, Hampshire 5: The Knights received 2 hits apiece from Nick Carmody (2 RBI), Adam Gomski (3 RBI) and CJ Bailey in the Fox Valley Fox Division game.
Gomski had 2 doubles, while Carmody doubled and tripled. Carl Russell also hit a double for Grayslake North (12-12, 6-6).
Bailey got the win.
Wauconda 16, North Chicago 3: Trevor Lahrman picked up the win for the Bulldogs in the North Suburban Prairie game.
Antioch 4, Round Lake 3: David Meade earned the complete-game win for the visiting Sequoits in the North Suburban Prairie contest.
Meade (5-2), who struck out eight and walked one, got help from his defense in the seventh, as the tying run was thrown out at the plate to end the game.
Randy Eanos (3-for-4, double, RBI, run), Anthony Gutierrez (2-for-4, RBI) and Tyler Sanchez (2-for-3) led the way offensively for Round Lake. Losing pitcher Anthony Burton allowed just 1 earned run in a complete-game performance.
Adam Warner had a single and an RBI for Antioch (13-7, 5-3).
Warren 10, Zion-Benton 0: The visiting Blue Devils won the North Suburban Lake game behind the pitching of Jimmy Nickell.