Saturday article

West Aurora glad to scratch out runs any way it can
By Adam Bartolo
Daily Herald Correspondent
Posted Saturday, May 07, 2005

West Aurora and Wheaton North may not have played a pretty baseball game, but the Blackhawks were able to scrap out a 4-2 win against their DuPage Valley Conference foe Friday in Aurora.

Both teams had opportunities to score, but it was the Blackhawks (16-8, 8-5) who found ways to push runners across the plate.

Trailing 2-1 in the third inning, the Blackhawks scored twice without a hit. Andy Beatty led off with a walk and Dan Kraabel tried to bunt him to second, but the ball trickled under the third baseman’s glove and both runners were safe.

Following a sacrifice bunt, Ryan Dennis got hit by a pitch to load the bases for Brandon Copp. He grounded out to second, but the tying run scored. With Nick Golich batting, Kraabel scored the go-ahead run when Pat Kirchhofer’s pitch sailed to the backstop.

But for a team that’s been struggling to score runs lately, West Aurora coach Dave Rowell was happy to see his team score no matter how they did it.

“It was nice to get a couple of those (base runners) in today even if it wasn’t pretty,” Rowell said. “We get them on base but we just don’t always score them.”

The Falcons (12-14 4-9), on the other hand, spent most of the day trying to figure out the Northern-Illinois bound Copp.

Despite not having his most dominating stuff and pitching on three days rest for the first time this year, Copp pitched a solid game. He threw 117 pitches over seven innings, allowing 3 singles and 3 walks, while striking out 11.
He had some trouble locating his pitches, but he mixed his curveball, fastball and changeup effectively, keeping Wheaton North’s hitters confused.

“I couldn’t locate my fastball inside and outside,” Copp said. “But I was fortunate to keep them off balance.”
Even after the game was delayed in the fifth inning for 30 minutes by lightning, the strikes continued coming as Copp fanned four of the next five hitters.

Copp also added a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth to make the score 4-2.

In the seventh, the Falcons looked like they might rally. Dave Lindberg led off with the second of his 2 singles. The next batter, Kevin Small, lined a shot to the right fielder Kraabel. He dove to make the catch, but the ball bounced on the grass. Lindberg, unable to tell if the ball was caught, froze halfway between first and second. Kraabel recovered, and fired the ball to second base for the force out.

The next batter popped out and then Kevin Smith smashed a line drive that seemed headed toward right field. But second baseman Jason Lowe leaped for the catch to end the game.

Falcons coach Dan Schoessling was frustrated with his team’s lack of execution on offense and defense, but was pleased with his team’s ability to push Copp. Schoessling said these kinds of games will help come playoff time.

“We took some good at-bats against him,” Schoessling said. “We’re better for facing a good pitcher. That’ll definitely help us down the road.”