Baseball: Blackwell’s gem, big offensive effort send Hersey to MSL win over Conant

Hersey saw an early lead dissipate in a one-run loss to Prospect on Wednesday. When the Huskies grabbed a similar advantage in their first trip to bat at Conant on Thursday, they made sure that early edge held firm.

Hersey got a strong outing on the mound to go with as equally strong and solid burst of offense to earn a 13-2 six-inning win in Hoffman Estates in a rematch of last spring's MSL championship game.

“Our pitching carried us (while) our offense has been really solid and I'm glad our defense was really great," Hersey coach Wally Brownley said. "We picked up three double plays which helps you get out of a lot of innings."

After a 20-minute rain delay, Hersey crossed the plate early and often in its half of the first. The Huskies put a six-spot on the scoreboard that got started when two runners scored on a fielding error plus another runner reaching home on a wild pitch.

The Huskies also got RBI hits from junior third baseman Drew Thomas, senior right fielder Marcus Krecu, and from their leadoff man senior second baseman Brady Klehr.

Hersey (11-2-1, 2-1) then padded that advantage with two runs in each of the next two innings that gave them a 10-2 cushion after three.

It added three more runs in the top of the sixth with a pair coming off back-to-back run-scoring sacrifice flies by first baseman Wyatt Groberski and Klehr.

Meanwhile, senior starting hurler Riley Blackwell kept Conant at bay with a strong complete game gem that held the hosts to just two hits while striking out seven.

"Our pitching has carried us most of the season and has kept us in every game and Riley is our bulldog and has been unreal this year," Brownley said. "He has put in so much work to be where he is."

Blackwell considers his approach to facing batters where getting ahead in the count is a big key to his success.

"That's the mentality of the first pitch. It establishes a lot (and) it kind of sets up the whole at-bat," Blackwell, a senior, said.

"I just try to get ahead (and) set up the hitter for a strikeout pitch. Basically, it's all about sequence and kind of getting hitters' eyes looking up, down, left, right and then knowing what pitch to throw in those situations."

For Conant (7-7-1, 0-3), it marked its fifth straight loss.

"They’ve got to figure out how to hit really good pitching in this conference," said coach Derek Fivelson, noting the need for his young players to gain the needed experience through learning some tough lessons.