Lost flyballs help Barrington down Huntley

While millions of television viewers were settling in for another Tuesday episode of ABC's confusing hit saga, the Huntley outfield was embroiled in its own version of "Lost."

In the fifth inning of a scoreless pitcher's duel between right-handers Sean Buchholz of Barrington and Huntley's Matt Morin, the Broncos launched back-to-back flyballs to right field that were completely lost in a white-and-gray background and a windy sky.

The first flyball, hit by senior Derek Foderaro, froze the Huntley center fielder who was shading to right center, and it caused the right fielder to get a very late jump. It went for a leadoff triple.

Buchholz followed and smacked a deep flyball to right field with a similar result: neither Huntley outfielder saw it. The ball rolled to the wall for a run-scoring double and helped lift Barrington to a 2-0 victory.

"They totally lost those balls," Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. "They never saw it once."

Barrington coach Jim Hawrysko pointed out the reason.

"See that building over there?" he said, pointing to a gray-roofed structure with a white fence in the foreground on the far east side of the athletic complex. "I would hate to play right field here because of that white. I think you can lose it sometimes when it gets up in the sky and they lost it. It's a wide-open sky here. We're lucky that we didn't do that."

The two lost hits were all the Broncos managed against Morin, who struck out 6 without a walk in 5 innings pitched. The Huntley pitcher empathized with his outfielders.

"I've taken some flyballs out there in right field. I'm not gonna lie, it is hard to see out there," Morin said. "I don't blame them. It's baseball; it happens."

Barrington (4-3-1) added an insurance run in the seventh against the Huntley bullpen, when No. 9 hitter John O'Connell fought off a two-out, 2-strike pitch on his fists and muscled it into left field to score Robert McDonnell, who had doubled.

Buchholz and reliever Tyler Tureck did the rest to hand Huntley (3-1) its first loss of the season. Buchholz (2-0) held the Red Raiders to 3 hits in 5 innings with 3 strikeouts and no walks. Huntley put men in scoring position with two outs in the third, fourth and fifth innings, but each time Buchholz worked out of jams.

"My fastball had a lot of downward plane on it today, which is why I got a lot of pop flies and grounders," he said.

Huntley put a runner at second with two outs in the sixth against Tureck, thanks to a Barrington error and a stolen base. But the senior left-hander stepped off in time to get the runner caught in an inning-ending rundown between second and third. Tureck retired the side in order in the seventh to earn the save.

"It was a well-pitched game by both teams," Hawrysko said. "It was kind of like a playoff atmosphere for this early in the year. It was a good game for both teams. To play this kind of game early in the year is good for us."