Huntley's Funke shines

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Facing a tall, hard-throwing, left-hander from a bigger school than yours can cause some intimidation.

Hampshire found that out as it lost 8-1 to Class 3A Huntley on Wednesday in a non-conference matchup. Red Raiders junior Tanner Funke struck out 11 and allowed five hits in the complete-game win.

"This was our worst loss," said Hampshire coach Steve Ream. "They were intimidated; he's a lefty that throws kind of hard. But they were more intimidated by the fact it was Huntley."

Added Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski: "It was the third straight outing he pitched well in. He kept leadoff hitters off base, got ahead first-pitch strike and just dealt today."

Hampshire (2-5) started a lefty of its own. Sophomore Kent Larson took the mound for the Whips and kept the Huntley bats at bay for the first two innings before running into trouble in the third.

After hitting the first batter of the inning, Huntley junior Craig Lipp hit a two-run home run over the right-field fence to give his team a 2-0 lead. Lipp added two triples and a single to end the day 4-for-4 at the plate.

"He struggled the last three games or so it was nice to see him break out of his slump today," Jakubowski said.

The Red Raiders (7-3) scored two more times in the third off a Jimmy Gordon double down the left-field line. Another sophomore, Hampshire's Ryan Burke, took over for Larson in the fourth and allowed three earned runs and struck out three in his three innings of work.

But pitching isn't what Ream has been concerned about this year.

"Our pitching has been OK," Ream said. "We just have not been hitting the ball. I think they're taking their inability to hit out on the field and making errors and that's just hurting us."

James Goebbert paced the Whips offensively, collecting two of the team's five hits. Hampshire pushed across its lone run when junior Joe Moore doubled home Matt Kuefner in the top of the seventh.

Despite pounding out 13 hits and scoring three of its eight runs with two outs, Jakubowski knows there's room for improvement heading into Fox Valley Conference play.

"We pride ourselves on pitching and defense, but I thought we left way too many runners on base today," he said. "I think we left 13 or 14 guys on and we can't do that when we get into conference play."