Big first inning lifts Cary-Grove past Huntley
The 10-game sprint to the finish in the tightly bunched Valley Division of the Fox Valley Conference began Monday, and the Cary-Grove baseball team bolted from the blocks fast.
Playing the first of 10 intra-division games in the final two weeks of the season, the Trojans scored 5 runs in the first inning at Huntley, helped by 4 errors from the Red Raiders, and junior pitcher Kevin Weber held the division co-leaders mostly in check for 51/3 innings of a 7-5 Cary-Grove victory.
The win lifted Cary-Grove (16-9, 11-4) into a tie for second place in the division with Huntley (18-6, 11-4), a game behind Valley leader McHenry (17-6, 12-3), which defeated Dundee-Crown 3-0 Monday.
"It's a tall ladder to climb these next two weeks with 9 games left," said Trojans senior left fielder Eric Chandler, who went 2-for-5 with a double, "but if we play like we did today and get pitching like we did from Kevin Weber from all our pitchers, I think we'll be OK."
Weber improved to 6-0 this season by striking out 12 Red Raiders while allowing 5 runs (4 earned). He threw only one changeup, relying mainly on well-located fastballs and curves to keep Huntley scoreless until an unearned run crossed in the fourth inning to cut the Trojans' lead to 7-1.
"This was really important," Weber said of the victory. "Being a game back of both (Huntley) and McHenry, we had to come out and get a big win on the road. We need to win 10 in a row and this is just the first step. We've got nine more steps to take until we're where we want to be."
The Red Raiders scored 3 runs against Weber in the fifth inning after he retired the first two hitters. Starting pitcher Chris Klein doubled, Phil Pupillo walked, Carlos Alvarez doubled to the right-center gap to drive in a run and Tom Crohan's bloop hit to center field scored a pair to make it a 7-4 game. But Weber struck out a Huntley pinch hitter, who represented the tying run, to end the inning.
"It was kind of hard getting out of the hole, but we got back in the game," said Crohan (3-for-3). "We just came up short against a good team. Next time we have to play better defense and start off better."
Huntley scored a run in the sixth inning on a single by Pupillo to pull within 7-5 and the Raiders had the tying runs on base, but reliever Michael Devoe induced a grounder to first base to strand two baserunners.
Crohan led off the seventh with a sharp single to center, but Devoe struck out Huntley's No. 7 hitter and got a flyball to center and a groundball to shortstop to earn the save.
Huntley's late charge was inverse to its performance early on, particularly defensively in Cary-Grove's 5-run first inning. The Red Raiders committed 7 errors total.
"We gave a very lackluster effort the first four innings today, on the defensive end, the offensive end," Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. "We didn't perform well whatsoever. We can't afford to give Cary-Grove six or seven outs and we did today. You're going to get beat."
The teams conclude their 2-game series in Cary on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.