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Romano, Lodi help lead D-C past Huntley
| Andrew A. Nelles~For Sun-Times Media |
Updated: May 16, 2011 9:24PM
With Mike Lodi rolling along on the mound, all Dundee-Crown needed Monday was a little offense.
Enter junior Jake Romano, who answered the call by producing all four runs for the Chargers in a 4-1 Fox Valley Conference Valley Division win against slumping Huntley.
The hard-fought victory gives D-C (19-12, 16-7) a two-game sweep of the regular-season series against Huntley (19-8, 14-6), which saw its losing streak reach six. The teams own the top two seeds at next week’s Huntley Class 4A Regional, meaning they could meet again.
“That was probably our most complete game of the year,” D-C coach Jon Sawyer said. “Mike threw the ball extremely well, we made some nice defensive plays behind him and got some clutch hits at perfect times. That’s how you beat a really good team like Huntley.”
The Chargers and Raiders were locked in a scoreless tie when Romano led off the fourth with a single. The speedy center fielder then stole second and moved up to third on an errant pickoff throw by Huntley starter Jake Staab. With one out, Nick Spagnola brought Romano home with an RBI single through the left side of a drawn-in infield.
Romano came to the plate again in the fifth, this time with the bases loaded and two outs. After working the count, he hammered a three-run triple into the gap in right center to give D-C a 4-0 cushion.
“I just knew we needed to get something there so I was looking for a base hit anywhere,” Romano said. “It worked out that it got into the gap and to the fence and I happened to get a triple and I happened to drive in three runs. Everything just worked out real well.”
Romano’s bases-clearing triple loomed large when Huntley tallied its only run in the top of the sixth. Bryce Only drew a leadoff walk for the Raiders before going to third on Justin Gundlach’s single and scoring when Jake Perkins grounded into a double play.
Gundlach went 2-for-3 to pace an eight-hit attack for Huntley, which couldn’t sustain a rally despite having at least one runner on base in every inning.
“We struggled big time last week, but I thought we gave a lot better effort today and I think we’re taking a step in the right direction,” Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. “We need to continue to improve, but maybe this is a good time to be in a slump because you obviously don’t want that to happen at playoff time.”
Staab (6-2) took the loss in six innings of work, and only one of the four runs he allowed was earned. He struck out one, gave up seven hits and walked none.
Romano (2-for-3) and Scott Nowicke (2-for-3) had multi-hit games for D-C. Lodi (5-2) stole the show on the mound, though, tossing a complete game in which he struck out two, walked one and surrendered only one earned run.
“Mike works quick, he keeps the ball down and he changes speeds a little bit,” Sawyer said. “It’s not a big secret to his pitching success, but he’s able to do that very well.”
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