Sports
Red Raiders Baseball Falls in FVC Play
Huntley manages just five hits in 4-1 loss at Cary-Grove.
When two pitchers are in a pitching duel, any group of base runners that get on base can mean trouble.
For Huntley on Monday at Cary-Grove, that group of base runners came right away in the first inning where the Trojans scored more than enough for the day. The Trojans defeated the Red Raiders 4-1 in Fox Valley Conference Valley Division play for just the third overall loss of the year for Huntley.
Justin Gundlach got into trouble right away as the first three Cary batters reached base before Matt Panek hit a three-run double into the gap in left-center field to clear the bases and give Cary a 3-0 lead. Cary added a run in the third inning before Huntley finally dented the scoreboard in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Jake Perkins.
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Huntley (19-3, 14-2) could not break through against C-G starter John Spoelstra, who struck out six in throwing the complete game. Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said his team had chances but couldn’t get any runs across including during the fifth inning when Gundlach doubled to leadoff the inning and after Brandon King, who run for Gundlach, advanced to third with just one out, Nick Bralich struck out and Tyler Davila grounded out to end the inning.
“In five of the seven innings, we had a runner in scoring position and could only score one run,” Jakubowski said. “Our situational hitting was not very good today and he (Spoelstra) had a lot to do with that because he took us out of our game. We didn’t get very deep into counts.”
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While Gundlach took the loss, he settled down after the Panek double, giving up just two hits over the next four innings and Jakubowski said Gundlach’s pitching along with reliever Nick Kostalek kept the Red Raiders in the game.
“I thought he battled, competed for us and gave us a chance to win and so did Kostalek,” Jakubowski said.
Brody Burkart had two hits for Huntley while scoring the lone run. The Red Raiders will look for their 20th win of the season again today with a FVC Valley game against Crystal Lake South.
