Team effort lifts Batavia in opener

It may have been opening day for the Batavia baseball team, but the pitching staff appeared to be in midseason form.

Senior Nick Pappas and junior Austin Shanahan scattered 8 hits without issuing a walk as the host Bulldogs logged a solid 7-2 nonconference victory Thursday over a Minooka squad that had posted 21 runs in its first two games.

“Their starting pitcher (Pappas) mixed things up well and threw hard enough to make life miserable against us,” said Minooka coach Jeff Petrovic. “We couldn’t get anything going offensively.”

Pappas, who is expected to anchor the staff after winning 6 conference games last year, kept the ball down with his sneaky three-quarters delivery and was one out away from working four scoreless frames.

He still left holding a 4-2 lead thanks to a pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth.

“It’s harder to get hurt with ground balls and my ball sinks a little bit, so keeping the ball down is the game plan,” Pappas said.

Shanahan, who was impressive in summer league action, earned the save in his varsity debut. He retired 9 of the 11 batters he faced over the final three innings.

Sophomore Laren Eustace also made a big varsity splash from the leadoff spot, collecting a single, double and triple, along with 2 runs and an RBI.

“Laren has great speed, a great bat, and he’s a natural athlete,” said Batavia coach Matt Holm.

“I was a little nervous before my first at-bat, but once I got that first hit, it felt like a normal game,” Eustace said.

Eustace singled to lead off the Batavia first and scored on sophomore Micah Coffey’s liner into left field.

The Bulldogs tacked on another run in the second thanks to two of Minooka’s seven errors in the game, but squandered a chance for a big inning on a double-play grounder.

The Indians (1-2) tied the score in the fourth with a two-out rally off Pappas. After consecutive singles, Joe Carnagio stroked a sinking line drive to right field that got past a diving Eustace for a 2-run triple.

“The ball just kind of sank on me and I misjudged it a little bit,” Eustace said.

Batavia responded in the bottom of the inning as Austin Higgins reached on a 2-out infield single. He took off for second on a delayed steal and came all the way around to score when no one covered the bag and the ball bounced past the center fielder.

Hard-luck loser Kevin Rutt hit Robbie Bowman on the foot and Eustace followed by rocketing a run-scoring triple into right-center.

Billy Zwick added a clutch 2-out, 2-run single in the fifth scoring Danny Ritchason and Coffey, who had both reached on throwing errors.

“Batavia has a nice club, but we threw the ball all over the place,” Petrovic said.

“In years past, I’ve de-emphasized the first game, but way back in January we put the focus on the opener,” Holm said. “We were playing a good team, so we wanted to go after it see what we can do.”

“This was definitely a good team win,” Pappas added. “Everyone did something to help.”