Beltrano's late homer lifts Batavia

The roller coaster ride the Batavia baseball team is on gave fans plenty of thrills again Wednesday against visiting DeKalb.

Trailing most of the game, junior Nick Beltrano blasted a 2-run home run in the bottom of the sixth that held up for a 9-8 victory over the Barbs, who were previously perfect in the Western Sun.

That wild win came a day after the Bulldogs lost 10-0 at DeKalb (9-2, 4-1). That's the type of up-and-down results coach Matt Holm is used to with just one returning starter from last year's 30-7 sectional champs.

"A lot of growing pains," Holm said. "I forget on a daily basis they are sophomores and juniors for the most part. Our seniors, tremendous leadership. We're putting so much on the shoulders of the younger guys to make plays, you can see the wheels spinning. Once we get past that and relax we'll be fine."

DeKalb's second hitter of the game, center fielder Frank Petras, put Batavia (5-6, 3-2) in a 1-0 hole with a solo home run to left. It was the first of four long balls, two by each team.

The Barbs capitalized on an error, wild pitch, 3 stolen bases and a passed ball to score three unearned runs in the second on just 2 singles.

That put Batavia down 4-0, but the Bulldogs grabbed a 6-4 lead with three runs in both the second and third innings. Sophomore Anthony Carby's 3-run home run to almost straightaway center in the second made it 4-3.

The Bulldogs took the lead in third. Senior leadoff hitter Tim Schofield hustled for a double. Andrew Scaccia reached on an infield single and Danny Seiton was hit by a pitch - after it was originally called a foul ball - to load the bases.

Those last two plays both brought DeKalb coach Justin Keck out of the dugout because he felt Scaccia was out at first and Seiton should not have been awarded first. They wouldn't be the last calls that upset Keck.

Beltrano's sacrifice fly scored Scofield to tie the game at 4, then a 2-run error on a grounder by catcher Jay Clark gave Batavia a 6-4 lead.

DeKalb quickly regained an 8-6 lead in the fourth, making Batavia starter Michael Rutas pay for two walks. Jake Gordon capped the inning with a 2-run homer.

The Bulldogs pulled within 8-7 on Nick Leonard's sacrifice fly in the fifth, then went ahead when Seiton drew a 4-pitch walk with two outs in the sixth and Beltrano slammed the first pitch he saw into the tennis courts beyond the left-field fence.

"It (the pitch) was exactly where I wanted it," Beltrano said. "I was looking first-pitch strike. It felt good off the bat, I knew it was going to be gone.

"I told myself before the at-bat I just wanted to be up there if there was someone on I just felt like I had enough courage to get the run in."

The homer, Beltrano's third of the year, finished a 3-for-3 day with 3 runs and 3 RBI for Batavia's cleanup hitter.

"He started down in lineup but I moved him up because he knows what he wants to hit," Holm said. "If he gets it he can drive it. That's what I told him before he took a swing. 'Wait for the one you can drive.'"

DeKalb made one last rally in the seventh with two outs and nobody on base. Kevin Sullivan reached on a catcher's interference - a call Keck had been looking for all day - and Blaine Parson walked. Cody Varga lifted a fly to shallow right that Scaccia made a tumbling catch to end the game.

That came on the 140th pitch for Rutas, who turned in a gutsy complete game performance shutting DeKalb out over the final three innings. He only allowed 6 hits while striking out nine and walking four to pick up his second straight win after beating Rochelle last week.

"He battled," Holm said. "He's got a real nice splitter and it just takes him a couple innings to get into it and then it starts to get guys."

Schofield also tripled to join Beltrano with multiple hits for Batavia, while Ben Dallesasse led the Barbs with 2 hits.

"The kids are obviously very disappointed," Keck said. "They feel, and it's kind of hard for me to argue, they were kind of robbed. A couple correct calls go our way, the way they should be called, that were blatant, it could potentially be a totally different game. It's frustrating for the kids who have worked so hard to lose their perfect conference record because of this. I'm not going to lie, I'm a little fired up and disappointed myself but it is the game of baseball.

"It (catcher's interference when Clark's glove hit a DeKalb bat on a swing) happened four times and out of four times they only called it once," Keck continued. "As much arguing as I did today, I usually don't argue like that. But it was one of those that was so blatant, what do you want me to do. I was beyond frustrated."

DeKalb will try to take out its frustration in the final game of the series today. Senior Matt Taylor, coming off a win over Waubonsie Valley Saturday, will pitch for Batavia, who rebounded impressively after the shutout Tuesday.

"We were all stressed out on the bus ride home (Tuesday)," Beltrano said. "We all knew we could come back and play our hardest and we could beat a good team. We are good enough. We just have to play as a team."