Huntley places ‘premium on defense’

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Huntley baseball coach Andy Jakubowski considered his team’s defense for parts of the season less than exemplary.

The postseason has been a different story altogether.

The Red Raiders’ nearly-flawless defense is a huge reason they have reached the IHSA Class 4A State Tournament semifinals. Huntley (29-9) will meet Chicago St. Rita (3-19) at 5 p.m. today at Joliet’s Silver Cross Field having committed only one error in five tournament games.

Naperville Central (36-4) faces Stevenson (34-3) in the first Class 4A semifinal at
3 p.m. today. The third-place and championship games will be played Saturday.

“We didn’t really play all that great of defense through the season,” Jakubowski said. “But we’ve picked it up in the postseason. If we practice 21⁄2 hours, we’ll use 1:20 of that for defense. We put a premium on defense and do a lot of situations. It’s a combination of all that.”

Huntley, which has not committed an error in its past three games, will need to get every out possible against St. Rita, an offensive powerhouse. The Mustangs hit .363 as a team and have outscored their opponents this season by 210 runs.

“We’ve been focusing on the little things in the playoffs,” center fielder Chris Klein said. “That’s what’s going to win us games.”

Opponents’ errors led to the winning runs for the Raiders in each of their past two victories.

Klein (.433, eight homers, 36 RBIs), catcher Phil Pupillo (.362, four homers, 42 RBIs) and first baseman Tom Crohan (.356, 41 RBIs) lead Huntley’s offense.

St. Rita is led by first baseman Joe Filomeno (.459, 14 homers, 63 RBIs) and third baseman Stefano Belmonte (.375, 11 homers, 52 RBIs). Center fielder Mark Payton (.441, nine homers, 41 RBIs) is another of the Mustangs’ top players.

The Raiders are the sixth Fox Valley Conference team in four years to advance to the state tournament. Dundee-Crown made the Class AA State Tournament in 2007, Crystal Lake Central (3A) and Prairie Ridge (4A) went to Joliet in 2008 and Grayslake Central (3A) and Cary-Grove (4A) made it last season.

Huntley had not won a sectional title before in school history. The Raiders hope to pull off what Prairie Ridge did two years ago and win a state championship.

“It’s a great feeling, a great opportunity,” Pupillo said. “We’re not done yet. We have two more games, and we want to make the most of them.”