Baseball: Huntley tops Crystal Lake South with only 2 hits

The Huntley baseball team won 7-5 at Crystal Lake South Wednesday despite how unlikely the final numbers made that result seem.

Huntley was outhit 9-2 and committed 4 errors in the fourth inning in squandering a 3-run lead.

Yet, the Red Raiders found a way to win in the Fox Valley, thanks to patience at the plate.

No. 9 hitter Dylan Janke drew a seventh-inning, bases-loaded walk to force in the go-ahead run, and Huntley (13-4, 7-2) added an insurance run on a fielder's choice off the bat of Evan Tocmo.

Reliever Davis Pasco made the lead stand up. The senior right-hander retired the side in order in the seventh via a popup and two flyouts. His 3⅓ scoreless innings covered for multiple blemishes.

"It's nice to know that even if we aren't playing to our full potential against a good team, we can still grind out a win," Pasco said.

Crystal Lake South (8-6, 4-6) issued 9 walks and hit four Huntley batters. That unwanted trend caught up to the Gators in the seventh inning.

Reliever Nathan Schlaiss was coming off 3 scoreless innings when he walked Jason Peters with one out, gave up a single to Zach Model and beaned Jackson Broom with an 0-2 pitch to load the bases. Janke then laid off a 3-1 pitch on the outside corner to force in the winning run.

"We were like that last year a lot," Model said of the seventh-inning rally. "We just never quit. We were really down. Our momentum was down and they had all the momentum. We just didn't give up. We rallied up and we just got it done."

Huntley was handed 3 first-inning runs on an outfield error with the bases loaded, but the offense did the job in the seventh.

"The last inning we were able to turn it on," Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. "I thought the guys grinded it out and had good at-bats, especially even with Jackson down two strikes and he wears a pitch. I know it hurt but he wore a pitch. Janke, bases loaded walk. Evan, putting the ball in play with two strikes. That's something we lacked doing in the early part of the game. We struck out way too much and we left double-digit runners on base."

Jacob Bimbi, Kyle Hetherington and Nick Mannella each had 2 hits for the Gators, including singles in the 3-run fourth inning that knotted the game 5-5.

"I liked that we bounced back and didn't give up down five to a real good team," Crystal Lake South coach Brian Bogda said.

Model (2-for-4) had the only 2 hits for Huntley.