Prep Baseball

Knight offense in total Funke

Nate Sousa pitched well enough to win on most days.

Alas, Saturday wasn’t one of those days for the Grayslake North High pitcher.

Though he worked seven solid innings, Sousa got no help from his team’s offense as the Knights dropped a 3-0 decision to visiting Huntley in a Fox Valley Conference Fox Division baseball game.

The Knights are now 4-8 in the division and 8-14 overall.

Sousa couldn’t make it happen Saturday because of one man – Huntley pitcher Tyler Funke.

The right-hander was almost unhittable, fanning 9, walking just 2 and scattering 5 hits while going the distance for the win.

Huntley is now 16-12 overall and 5-6 in the Fox Valley Fox.

Sousa allowed 3 earned runs on 6 hits in his 7 innings of work.

However, the Knights couldn’t bunch anything on offense. Clay Henricksen and Jim Butler had doubles for the home team, and Jordan Field, Stephen Kalina and Brnadon Schroth had singles … and that was it.

Huntley scored twice in the third inning and once in the sixth, and Funke did the rest.
 

Grant 11, Round Lake 1

Grant 9, Round Lake 3

This traditional season-ending doubleheader went to the Bulldogs as they improved to 10-14 overall with the sweep.

In the six-inning opener, Kyle Stroup fanned 9 of the first 11 batters he faced and finished with 13 punchouts whiel allowing 1 run on 1 hit.

Offensively, Grant was led by A.J. Spohr and Gerik Wallsten, who both had 3-for-5 games. Spohr scored four times and Wallsten drove in three. Stroup was 2 for 4 at the plate with 2 doubles and 2 RBIs.

In Game 2, Stroup’s big day continued as he jacked a pair of long home runs. He also had a sacrifice fly and finished with five RBIs. The homers were his sixth and seventh of the season.

Adam Taylor had a solid performance on the mound for the winners, allowing 2 earned runs on 3 hits while fanning 9 in 7 innings.

Wallsten was 2 for 3 with 2 doubles in the second contest.

 
Grayslake Central 3, Johnsburg 1

Sophomore Kevin DeRue ran his record to 4-1 as he pitched the Rams to a Fox Valley Fox win over Johnsburg.

DeRue and Johnsburg’s Jared Grundy both threw complete games, with DeRue fanning six and the hard-throwing Grundy getting 11 punchouts.

Matt Schmidt continued to swing a hot bat for the Rams, as he had a clutch, two-run single to highlight a three-run third inning for the Rams (16-10 overall, 4-6 in the Fox Valley Fox).

“Anytime you can get a ‘W’ against a pitcher as good as Grundy, you’re ecstatic,” said Rams coach Troy Whalen. “We needed a special performance today and Kevin gave us one.”
 

Vernon Hills 7, Wauconda 5 (8 inn.)

Oak Forest 6, Vernon Hills 0

Vernon Hills scored three times in the top of the eighth inning and hung on to edge host Wauconda on Saturday and clinch its second consecutive North Suburban Conference Prairie Division title.

The Cougars will play state-power Lake Zurich or Mundelein in the NSC Championship Game on Thursday.

Opportunity knocked for the Cougars when Antioch was upset by Lakes in extra innings on Thursday. That meant Vernon Hills had to beat Lakes on Friday (which it did, 9-4) and Wauconda on Saturday to win the division crown.

Saturday’s game actually started on Wednesday, but was halted by darkness after seven frames.

When it resumed in the eighth, Mark Argianas doubled and eventually scored on a throwing error. Zack Schwartz pitched the bottom of the eighth and got the save.

After beating Wauconda, Vernon Hills returned home and was blanked by powerful Oak Forest in a meaningless non-conference game.
 

Marian Central 11, Lakes 6

The Eagles dropped to 13-12 overall with this non-conference loss, as five fielding miscues made things easy for the Hurricanes.

Lakes had 10 hits in the game, but Randy Ratajczyk took the loss.