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Burlington Central keeps rolling with win
Updated: April 9, 2011 7:38PM
Piling up wins and playing tough competition are two things Burlington Central's baseball teams does with frequency.
The Rockets were at it again Wednesday when they extended their winning streak to five games by edging McHenry 4-3 in nonconference action.
The Class 4A Warriors rallied to tie the score on two occasions, but both times Class 3A Central bounced right back and regained the lead in the next half inning. That resiliency combined with a scrappy pitching effort by starter Sam Klein and an impressive relief showing by Chris Mull proved to be what the Rockets needed to get the job done.
"It's really encouraging to get these wins early in the season," Klein said. "We're playing some good 4A teams and some good competition, so it's good to see the wins piling up."
Central (7-2) struck first in the bottom of the first when Ray Hunnicutt led off with a ground-rule double and scored on Klein's RBI single up the middle. That's where the score remained until the top of the fourth when McHenry's Cody Freund drew a leadoff walk and scored on Alex Obenauf's RBI single to tie the score at 1.
The Rockets answered with two outs in the bottom of the fourth when Hunnicutt connected for a two-run double into the gap in left center, but the two-run cushion didn't last long as Pat Maher hammered a two-run homer for the Warriors in the top of the fifth to tie the score at 3.
Not to be outdone, Central's Tanner Scott led off the bottom of the fifth by smashing the first pitch he saw from reliever Jamie Rammel over the fence in left for what proved to be the game-winning home run.
"(Maher) hit a pretty good pitch out of the park on a changeup," Rockets coach Kyle Nelson said. "Then Tanner answers him with one of his own. Tanner and Ray coming up with those two big hits is big to see from two of the leaders on the team."
Things got tenuous for the Rockets in the top of the sixth when Klein walked Matt Banks to give McHenry (2-4) runners at first and second with one out. That prompted Nelson to bring in Mull from the bullpen, and the senior got Danny Guerra to fly out to left, gave up a single to Maher to load the bases and got out of the jam by inducing Freund to pop out to short.
Mull stayed on in the seventh and quickly retired the first two batters he faced, but an error by third baseman Nick Hahn and a single by Rammel gave the Warriors some life. Mull remained cool under pressure, though, getting Josh Arevalo to ground out weakly to first base to end the game.
"(Mull) has come on lately here after having a little bit of a sore arm early in the year," Nelson said. "He was one of the guys were looking to fill that (reliever) role, and every time he's come in he's done a great job for us. We're excited to have him."
Klein (3-0) picked up the win after striking out six and allowing three earned runs on five hits and five walks in 5 1/3 innings. Zach Ranney (2-for-3) and Hunnicutt (2-for-4) led the Rockets attack.
Rammel (0-1) took the loss after allowing one run on two hits in two innings in relief of starter Michael Kelly. Rammel (2-for-3) and Maher (2-for-4) paced McHenry's offense.
"It seemed like we were just one pitch away or one at-bat away from getting the job done," McHenry coach Brian Rockweiler said.
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