Baseball: FVC leader McHenry slows down Huntley
McHenry senior Owen Patzin was at shortstop last season when the Warriors lost to Huntley in a Class 4A sectional final at Petersen Park.
The four-year varsity performer enjoyed a bit of payback on the mound at the same McHenry venue in Saturday's 2-1 victory.
Normally a shortstop, Patzin used his strong right arm to improve to 5-0 in his first year as a starting pitcher. He mixed fastballs and curveballs of varying speeds to toss a 2-hit shutout in the opener of a 3-game series between Fox Valley Conference contenders.
"It's exciting. We're hoping to get the next two if possible," said Patzin, who struck out 7 and issued one walk in a 91-pitch outing.
McHenry (18-6, 12-2) tightened its grip on first place in the Fox Valley Conference thanks to Patzin's effort.
"He's good and we knew he'd be good," McHenry coach Brian Rockweiler said. "He throws all of his pitches for strikes, he works quick and he's tough."
Huntley (17-5, 9-4) fell 2 games behind in the loss column despite another solid performance by Kyle Morgan (6-2), Patzin's future McHenry Community College teammate. The senior left-hander went 6 innings, allowed 2 earned runs on 9 hits, walked one and struck out one.
McHenry's only runs came courtesy of Jake Evan's game-tying basehit in the first inning and Nick Finley's fourth-inning single to center field, which scored Joe Kaminski from second base.
"He's putting us on his shoulders," Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said of Morgan. "He's giving us an opportunity to win each and every day."
The Red Raiders played error free in the field but they did not play flawless baseball. Trailing by a run in the seventh inning, senior Matt Rodriguez drew a leadoff walk from Patzin. However, the next batter could not execute a sacrifice bunt and eventually struck out. Rodriguez was later thrown out trying to steal. The rundown went 2-6-3-4.
"We had two opportunities to get bunts down and we didn't get our bunts down," Jakubowski said. "And we kind of misread a sign. We hurt ourselves in a well-pitched game on both sides. Tip your cap to Owen. He really did a great job of keeping us off balance and they made plays behind him."
Leadoff batter Jordan Goldstein had the only 2 hits for Huntley.
Huntley 10, Hampshire 0: In the afternoon game of a Fox Valley Conference split doubleheader, Huntley bounced back from a morning loss at McHenry with a 6-inning victory. Kamrin Hoffmann went 1-for-2 with a double, walk and 3 RBI and AJ Henkle had 2 hits and drove in 3. Eli Paplanus limited Hampshire to 4 hits in 6 innings, struck out 3 and walked 5.
Either
outside fastball
I j