Baseball: Huntley's 8-1 start due to solid pitching, defense
The Huntley baseball team is 8-1 though the offense is still a work in progress, according to veteran coach Andy Jakubowski.
The Red Raiders stayed in northern Illinois over spring break, overcoming local opponents and cold weather with pitching and defense.
Paced by senior left-hander Kyle Morgan (3-0, 0.47 ERA) and junior right-hander Elijah Paplanus (2-0, 0.70), Huntley pitching has limited nine opponents to 21 earned runs in 62 innings. That translates to a 2.37 team ERA.
The defense, led by slick-fielding shortstop Jordan Goldstein, owns a .969 fielding percentage. Huntley has committed 8 errors in 9 games.
An offense that returned few players with varsity at-bats has experienced the expected ups and downs. Bright spots thus far include No. 3 hitter Matt Rodriguez and leadoff batter Evan Tocmo. Rodriguez, a 6-foot-1, 230-pound senior, owns a team-best .407 batting average (11-for-27) to go with 6 doubles and 5 RBI. Tocmo, a 5-9, 160-pound sophomore, is batting .321 (9-for-28) with 2 doubles, 2 triples and 6 RBI.
Though Huntley averages 7.4 runs per game, many runs have been the result of mental or physical errors by opponents.
"I'm happy about our defense, I'm happy about our pitching and our offense is our worst spot right now," Jakubowski said. "We're finding ways to score runs, but from a coach's perspective we're taking advantage of some mistakes you're not going to see against a Prairie Ridge, Cary-Grove, McHenry or Jacobs. A passed ball here, or bases loaded and there's a triangle and you score 3 runs. Those types of things. We just need to be more efficient when we get runners in scoring position."
The Red Raiders are batting .371 with runners in scoring position, but Jakubowski thinks they can do better.
"Hopefully, we get better offensively as the year goes on," he added. "We're preaching to the kids and showing them video of where we need to get better. Situationally, we're not doing bad but we can improve."
The groundhog was right: Burlington Central hoped to escape the cold weather during spring break last week, but the pervasive Midwestern chill followed the baseball team to South Carolina.
In the Rockets' fourth trip under coach Kyle Nelson to the Ripken Experience in Myrtle Beach, they played 4 games, mostly wearing long sleeves. The temperature never rose above 55 degrees. In fact, the Rockets played a night game when it was 42 degrees at first pitch.
"Not exactly what you expect when you drive halfway across the country," Nelson said.
The Rockets went 1-3 in the Palmetto State, losing to Pennsylvania schools Council Rock North and Mars and Olentangy of Ohio. They defeated Dublin Scioto (Ohio) 3-2 in the final game of the trip.
Central's coach said Colton Wallace, one of two catchers splitting time, is hitting well. So is sophomore Ethan Krieger. Wallace is batting .357 (10-for-28) with 2 doubles and 4 RBI. Krieger is batting .368 (7-for-19) with 4 RBI.
Defense is Central's backbone, led by Northern Illinois recruit Paddy McKermitt at shortstop. The senior's glove work was on display Monday in a 5-4 victory over Marengo in the Kishwaukee River Conference opener.
"He made a play on a ball hit right over his head," Nelson said. "He jumped, backhanded it and snow-coned it. That ended an inning for them. He has great range at shortstop, the way he's able to go in the hole and go up the middle and make what are really very difficult plays look routine. He's been doing that all year."
McKermitt leads off. He has scored a team-best 9 runs despite 3 hits in 21 at-bats (. 143). He scores because he reaches base 45.5 percent of the time. McKermitt has drawn a team-high 8 walks and has been hit by a pitch 4 times in 31 plate appearances. That's why he'll play division-I baseball.
"That and his work ethic and his energy and the way he approaches the game," Nelson said. "It's just great to have a guy like that on your team to build up the guys around him. His energy is really contagious."