Kaneland pitcher Colton Fellows would just as soon finish what he starts.
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Every time he’s pitched this season, Fellows has given the bullpen a break by pitching a complete game.
Tuesday’s 4-0 Northern Illinois Big 12 East win over Yorkville was no different. Fellows scattered four hits, struck out three and walked two, helping the Knights clinch the series with one more game to go Thursday at Kaneland.
“It helps a lot having seven days of rest,” Fellows said. “My arm is at 100 percent. When I’m able to hit my spots, have my off-speed working and keep my pitch count low, that keeps me in games.”
The Knights (12-7, 7-1) didn’t need a whole lot of offense with Fellows (3-2) on the hill and error-free defense being played behind him. They got the only run they needed in the fourth inning. Joe Laudont walked and scored on an error.
Kaneland picked up insurance in the sixth, with the help of errors from Yorkville (16-6, 3-2). Laudont walked and scored after executing a double steal with Jacob Bachio. Matt Rosko then reached on a three-base error and was singled in by Jacob Violett. Suddenly, it was a 4-0 game with Fellows on cruise control.
“We always need good offense,” Kaneland coach Brian Aversa said. “That’s a dangerous team. They made a couple of errors that we took advantage of. They make those plays, it’s a different ballgame. We have some talented pitching. When we play good defense and scratch out a couple of runs, we’ll get the win.”
It was the first time the Foxes have lost consecutive games this season, and both of them came by way of shutouts. Yorkville was shut out by Joliet West in the season opener, but the Foxes weren’t shut out again until Kaneland turned the trick on Monday in a 2-0 decision and Tuesday.
“The bats are a little cold,” Yorkville coach Scott Luken said. “You can’t win many games if you don’t score runs. We had a nice talk with our guys and we’re hoping to see some improvements. We know we’re a better hitting club than that.
“It’s high school kids trying to battle through a little adversity here. How do they respond? We have a practice (Wednesday) to get ready for Thursday. Hopefully good things will happen.”
It was the sixth straight win for Kaneland, which appears to have found its identity in the past few weeks.
“I think we’ve worked hard in the cages to get the bats going,” Fellows said. “The bats really hurt us in the beginning of the season. We weren’t making good contact. I think now that we got those working, we really have things figured out. We’re clicking and coming together as a team.”
The goal in any conference series is to take two out of three. Now that Kaneland has done that, the goals change for Thursday.
“We have our mindset shifted toward sweeping them now,” Aversa said. “That’s what we’re looking forward to. We’ll have Ryan David going on Thursday and we feel good about where we’re at.”
Johnson is a freelance reporter for The Beacon-News.