Huntley’s Cameron Reed enjoys one of the perks that goes along with being a starting pitcher.
It shows in his record.
Reed improved to 4-0 on the season and the Red Raiders’ patience at the plate over the final four innings Tuesday led to much-needed offense for a 6-1 Fox Valley victory over Dundee-Crown.
“I didn’t think I would do this well at the start,” said Reed, a senior right-hander. “I haven’t started since my sophomore year.
“But I’m finding I like the windup a lot more than when I was pitching from a stretch. I get more on my pitches and get to more of the pitches I want to throw than out of the stretch.”
Reed outdueled Northern Illinois recruit Erik Hedmark by allowing two hits and one unearned run in five innings. Reed left with 4-1 lead after five innings.
“I didn’t get first-pitch strikes very much, I felt, but then I’d have to get back by throwing strikes and make them hit the ball,” Reed said.
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Huntley (9-3, 4-1) beat Dundee-Crown (5-3, 2-3) for the second time in two games in the three-game series after showing better patience at the plate against the left-handed Hedmark.
“Cam kind of grinded out an outing,” Huntley coach Andy Jakubowski said. “He didn’t have great command as in his last couple outings, but he gave us an opportunity to win and gave up only that unearned run.”
“Erik was rolling, it was a 1-1 game,” Dundee-Crown coach Matt Mueller said. “And then we walked six hitters from that point on. That’s what happens with walks.”
Hedmark took a no-hitter into the fifth inning after Huntley had scored in the fourth on two-strike passed ball with two outs.
In the fifth, Brad Model’s two-run single broke the 1-1 tie after Jordan Goldstein and Joe Rizzo worked Hedmark for two-out walks. Eric Maurer broke up the no-hitter with a two-out single.
“I thought we hit the ball hard at people early,” Jakubowski said. “Then our guys had better approaches.
“The telltale inning was when we were able to get (Hedmark) out of the stretch. He struggled in that fifth out of the stretch and we were able to put some pressure on.”
Logan DeWulf finished the last two innings for Reed. Hedmark left after striking out four and allowing just two of Huntley’s five hits.
The Chargers had started the season with a 4-0 record.
“We’ve got a great group of seniors playing well together,” Mueller said. “They’re all leaders and they’ve been taking good at-bats. And for the most part we’ve had good pitching.
“We just let it get away from us (Tuesday night).”
Twitter @genechamberlai2