Prairie Ridge stuns McHenry with 8 runs in 2nd, hangs on

The Prairie Ridge baseball team celebrates during Thursday's IHSA Class 4A McHenery Regional game against McHenry. Prairie Ridge won, 10-8. (Sarah Nader – snader@nwherald.com)

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McHENRY – Prairie Ridge third baseman Adam Enwiya looked at the records of past Wolves baseball teams written on the board by coach Glen Pecoraro.

There were several years with more than 25 wins. There was the 2008 team that was 32-8 with an IHSA Class 4A state championship.

“That really motivated me,” Enwiya said. “We’re a different team than we were early in the season.”

The Wolves still have the fewest wins in school history, but they are trying to make it a memorable season. On Thursday, they hit top-seeded McHenry with eight runs in the second inning and held on for a 10-8 victory at Petersen Park in the IHSA Class 4A McHenry Regional opener.

Fourth-seeded Prairie Ridge (14-20) will meet Cary-Grove or Crystal Lake South in Saturday’s 3 p.m. championship game.

“We wanted to come out today and show [McHenry] we came to play,” right fielder Jordan Getzelman said.

Not that the Warriors (24-12) were taking Prairie Ridge lightly after a two-game split last week, but McHenry got that message loud and clear in the second. Wolves hitters battled McHenry ace Joe Feilen and chased him after 12⁄3 innings.

No. 3 hitter Alex Martini was the third batter of the inning to work an 0-2 count for a walk, setting up Getzelman’s grand slam and an 8-0 lead.

“Al had a great at-bat with a lot of pitches before me,” Getzelman said. “I closed my eyes and visualized what I might get. I was able to get my hands inside the fastball.”

Getzelman ripped it to left-center field and raced around the bases, although McHenry was far from finished. The Warriors, who won the Fox Valley Conference Valley Division, chipped away at the lead as reliever Kevin Maher shut down the Wolves in the final five innings.

“Kevin came in and threw strikes and got people out,” McHenry coach Brian Rockweiler said. “We just walked too many in that inning. You walk the [Nos.] 8 and 9 hitters, and that seems to kill you.”

McHenry’s No. 9 hitter Devon Gehrke singled with one out in the seventh, but reliever Zack Coel got a ground ball from Pat Maher to shortstop Bobby Myers. Myers grabbed the ball, stepped on second and fired to first for a game-ending double play.

“It was like two different games, for crying out loud,” Pecoraro said. “We had some great approaches against their left-hander [Feilen]. We saw him last week when they were winning the [Valley Division] and we worked on that all week.”

Dave Novy (4-2) pitched four innings and struggled with his control, but he allowed only one earned run to get the win.

“This team underachieved early in the year, and we had some issues,” Pecoraro said. “But I’m really happy and proud of the way these guys responded.”