PR’s rally leaves Warriors waiting

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CRYSTAL LAKE – It’s been 12 years since McHenry won a Fox Valley Conference baseball title, and Tuesday marked a chance for the Warriors to clinch the title outright.

But Prairie Ridge rallied for three runs in the third inning and beat the Warriors, 5-3, leaving McHenry only one more shot at the championship in a rematch tonight.

McHenry (22-9 overall, 19-4 FVC Valley) got on the board in the second inning when pinch-runner Zac Woods scored when shortstop Bobby Myers’ throw home was wild.

Prairie Ridge (12-19, 10-10) responded in the bottom of the inning on an RBI single by Matt Krenz. McHenry scored twice in the top of the third on two Prairie Ridge errors before the Wolves scored four times in the bottom of the inning on consecutive two-run doubles by Alex Martini and Jordan Getzelman.

Martini’s drive hit the bottom of the left-field wall, and Getzelman hit his over the head of center fielder Pat Maher to drive in the winning runs.

Getzelman, who had two hits in the game, said that after missing a bunt earlier in the at-bat, he had some work to do.

“I missed the squeeze, and I wanted to make it up to my teammates because we really needed a run right there,” Getzelman said.

“I think I had two strikes for me, so I knew I had to put the bat on the ball.”

McHenry managed only three hits in the game off pitchers David Novy and Alex Frey, including one hit in the final four innings.

Prairie Ridge coach Glen Pecoraro said his team had stepped up its play in recent weeks.

“We’ve been playing cleaner baseball the last two or three weeks, and our errors have been down,” Pecoraro said. “We made some mistakes early in the game, and earlier in the season, we would have folded up shop.

“I was really happy with the way we responded and didn’t give up.”

McHenry coach Brian Rockweiler said it was a bad day for his team at the plate.

“We didn’t swing the bats very well at all, we weren’t very aggressive and we didn’t change our approach much, especially when we had two strikes,” Rockweiler said. “We struck out way too many times.”

McHenry has one more chance to win the conference for the first time since 1999 when it hosts Prairie Ridge at 7 p.m. today at Petersen Park.