No-Hitter Highlights Four-Win Week for Bulldogs

Michael Rutas has firmly established himself as the pitching ace for Batavia’s baseball team this season.

He delivered his best performance yet on April 25, as the senior right-hander tossed a no-hitter during the Bulldogs’ 4-0 win over Upstate Eight Conference River Division foe Streamwood.

“This was my first no-hitter,” said Rutas, who struck out five while improving his record to 4-1. “The whole atmosphere of it was unbelievable. It was great.”

Not only did Rutas etch his name into the Batavia record books, he did something that no other pitcher had done up to that point by beating Streamwood.

“They’re all great,” Bulldogs coach Matt Holm said of the team’s run of no-hitters over the past few seasons. “Two years ago, Krolo (Brian Krolikowski) and (Jason) Coffey each had one and I think Coffey threw one the year before.

“But this one may have been the biggest because we were playing a team that was 14-0 and looking to make a statement,” added Holm.

It marked the second time in as many weeks that Rutas was locked in a pitchers’ duel with Streamwood left-hander Josh Harris.

While Harris won the first battle, 4-0, Rutas enjoyed the upper hand this time around.

“It did help me,” Rutas admitted of his second start against the Sabres. “I changed my pitching strategy because toward the end of that (first) game, they started to catch up with my fastball. This time, I threw a lot more curveballs and splitters.”

Rutas also helped his own cause with several nice defensive plays, including one on the final out of the game.

“He fields his position like we’ve never seen,” said Holm. “He made five plays on the mound himself. The last one was a hard one-hopper right back at him. He sprinted with it (the ball) over to first because he didn’t want to take the chance of throwing it because it was rainy and slippery.”

After the celebration near the mound, Rutas received the game ball and lineup card as a keepsake.

“That whole game was unbelievable,” he said. “Hopefully it’ll be the turning point of our season.”

It must have helped because the Bulldogs (7-11, 5-8) won four of five games during the week, capped by Saturday’s doubleheader sweep of Elgin.

In the opener, Batavia rallied for a pair of seventh-inning runs to force extra innings before scoring five runs in the eighth to seal its 12-9 triumph. The Bulldogs won the nightcap, 9-0.

It completed their series sweep of Elgin after the Bulldogs’ 14-4, six-inning victory Thursday (April 28). Rob Bowman, Braden Hrack, Sam Burnoski (triples), and Joe Sortino (double) had extra-base hits for Batavia.

The lone blemish of the week came during Friday’s 15-6 loss to St. Charles East. Batavia led 1-0 after four innings before things fell apart as the Saints scored all of their runs over the final three frames.

Hrack went 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored.

“They took it to us,” Holm said of the Saints. “They crushed the ball and we had very little discipline at the plate.”

The Bulldogs begin a three-game series with St. Charles North Tuesday in Batavia.