Huisel, Carmel a hit vs. Buffalo Grove
Carmel Catholic starting pitcher Jonathan Huisel usually doesn't throw a lot of strikeouts, relying instead on his team's defense behind him to make the plays.
That plan was evident as he pitched fourth-seeded Carmel to a 7-4 victory over No. 14 Buffalo Grove in semifinal action of the Class 4A regional at Libertyville on Wednesday.
While Huisel supplied the pitching, Alex May and Chris Divarco homered in the third. May belted a solo shot over the 325-feet sign in right field and, three batters later, Divarco slammed a 3-run shot to center for his 11th of the season.
Carmel (26-8) will meet the winner of today's Libertyville/Barrington game in the regional championship Saturday.
Buffalo Grove finished 19-13.
"We knew that the playoffs would add a little pressure," Carmel coach Joe May said. "We started out a little tight and then once things loosened up we gave a pretty good shot."
Huisel (5-1) pitched the first 51/3 innings. Despite not striking out anyone, he gave up only 1 run on 5 hits.
He used his curveball and slider to keep Buffalo Grove's hitters off balance, as he induced a total of 9 flyouts and popouts. Center fielder Nick Battalini made 5 putouts.
"(Huisel) is a surgeon on the mound," Joe May said. "He works inside, outside, and has four pitches that he can use. I think once he got rid of the heebee-jeebees, he bore down and got the job done."
Battalini relieved Huisel in the sixth to pick up his fifth save.
Battalini loaded the bases with one out in the top of the seventh but got the next two batters on a popup and a strikeout to end the game.
After Buffalo Grove took a 1-0 lead in the opening inning, Huisel settled down and allowed only 2 Bison runners on base over the next four innings.
Carmel's defense came to his rescue as May threw out a runner trying to steal second and Battalini raced in front of the center-field fence to catch a flyball to end a threat.
"I came out a little nervous," Huisel said. "Every inning it seemed like something wasn't working, but I battled through it on groundouts or flyouts. I'm usually more of a groundball guy, but the past few games the curve and slider have been working fine and then they just pop it up."
Alex May got Carmel's offense going in the third with his homer.
"I looked pretty bad my first at-bat and the coaches told me I was pretty far out in front, he said. "So I made an adjustment and decided to wait back."
May stroked a 2-run single in the fourth. Battalini added a sacrifice fly and Jimmy Spagna singled in a run.
Buffalo Grove rallied for 3 runs in the sixth, as Andrew Van Wazer singled in two runs and Jake Monson drew a bases-loaded walk.
Buffalo Grove coach Jeff Grybash was disappointed with the game, but not the season.
"We got down a couple of runs and were forced to kind of battle back," Grybash said."You could see that their dugout was getting nervous. We were one big hit away."