Huntley's Ahillen seals sectional title

Huntley's Andre Sopena (center) lifts pitcher Jeremy Ahillen to celebrate their 5-4 victory against Cary-Grove on Saturday in the IHSA Class 4A Larkin Sectional final in Elgin. (Lauren M. Anderson - landerson@nwherald.com)

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

ELGIN – Huntley left hander Jeremy Ahillen saw the action in the bullpen as he struggled through the fourth inning against Cary-Grove.

Red Raiders coach Andy Jakubowski said he had no intention of replacing Ahillen.

“There wasn’t really any doubt who would finish,” Jakubowski said. “He showed why he’s 8-1.”

Ahillen faced one batter more than the minimum in the final three innings, and Huntley overcame a two-run deficit to defeat the Trojans, 5-4, in the IHSA Class 4A Larkin Sectional championship baseball game Saturday. It was Huntley’s first sectional baseball title in school history and sends the Raiders (28-9) to the Rockford River-Hawks Supersectional 2 at 7 p.m. Monday against Wheaton North.

“Seeing people in our bullpen pushed me a little bit,” Ahillen said. “I had confidence that we’d get our bats going. I had a little more on my fastball [in the late innings], and my curve was working well.”

C-G (25-13) was trying to win its second consecutive sectional after taking fourth in the Class 4A State Tournament last season. The Trojans got RBI singles from Steve Hapanovich and Nick Taylor in the fourth for a 4-2 lead. Nick Richter ripped a line drive off Ahillen’s hip that third baseman Bryce Only turned into the final out of the inning. After that, only one ball, a flyout, left the infield.

Two-out singles by Colin Lyman, Zach Staab and Matt Szytz produced a run in the fourth, making it 4-3. Center fielder Chris Klein, who was 3 for 4, homered to right field in the fifth to tie the score and further boost the energy in Huntley’s dugout.

“It was an accident,” Klein said. “It was an outside curveball and I was just trying to take it the other way, but I got enough lift. That put us off the charts with intensity.”

In the bottom of the sixth, Lyman walked, was bunted to second and Szytz’s ground ball moved Lyman to third. Andre Sopena’s slow roller to the left side forced shortstop Chris Waylock to hurry, and Waylock bobbled the ball, allowing Lyman to score.

It was the third tough play on softly-hit balls for Waylock, a three-year starter who was 3 for 4 with a solo home run.

“We didn’t have it defensively today,” Waylock said. “I didn’t have it defensively. They were all do-or-die plays. I just couldn’t come up with it and didn’t help my team out.”

The game’s start was delayed by three hours because of rain and was tight all the way, befitting the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division’s two co-champions. Huntley grabbed a 2-0 lead in the first, but C-G scored one each in the second and third, then went ahead 4-2 in the fourth.

“There were a lot of little things,” C-G coach Don Sutherland said. “We just didn’t play well enough to win. I try to impress on these guys that the College World Series is two our of three, the World Series is best-of-seven. In high school baseball, with single elimination, there’s no room for mistakes. We did things like get picked off and not getting a bunt down, and you can’t make those mistakes.”

While Huntley didn’t have an error, Jakubowski sensed his team was down in the fourth when Hapanovich’s blooper landed between three fielders, prolonging the two-run inning.

“We should have made that play, but we persevered and fought back,” Jakubowski said. “That last inning was something we’ve been working on a lot the last two weeks, get him on, get him over and get him in.”