Ridder gives Illiana a lift on mound

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School may be out for the summer, but that doesn't mean Jeremy Ridder is sitting around bored.

The junior-to-be at Illiana Christian is playing baseball for the Vikings, but not on a full-time basis.

"He usually only pitches on Mondays," Illiana coach Jeff VanderWoude said. "He's a dirt-bike rider."

"I like motocross a lot," Ridder said. "Baseball is still something I love to do, too."

So far, the balancing act is working out pretty well. Ridder continued to make a strong case to be in Illiana's pitching mix next spring on Monday, when he closed down an 11-3 South Suburban Summer League win over host Crete-Monee.

Starter Austin Evenhouse, an incoming sophomore, allowed two hits and three runs (one earned) over four innings to earn the victory.

Then came Ridder, who set down all nine Warriors he faced, seven of them on strikeouts.

Ridder also picked up a win over T.F. North and had a strong outing against Homewood-Flossmoor. Though he doesn't play often, he works out sometimes at Lake Central High in St. John, Ind. -- when he's not racing dirt bikes.

The emergence of another good arm is good news for the Vikings, who graduated ace Braden Kapteyn but return the likes of Kevin Lasowski, Chris Rudenga and Jent Botterman.

"Our pitching staff is really good," said Ridder, and VanderWoude agrees.

"We're not going to have the flamethrower," the coach said. "But we're going to have pitchers who put movement on balls [and] who do throw pretty hard."

The Vikings (6-4) also have a few hitters as well. Down 3-0 after three innings on Monday, they roared back with four runs in the fourth and six more in the fifth.

Evenhouse was 2-for-3 with two RBI, Lasowski drove in two runs and Jordan Brink scored two runs and drove in another.

"As a whole, our team is coming along," VanderWoude said. "We start off the summer slow every year, but we build up."

For Crete (3-4), starter Jon Walker was perfect through three innings with three strikeouts before tiring in the fourth. He's working his way back into shape after missing the entire spring with an injury.