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April 26, 2024

Huntley senior catcher Quinn Drews handles his duties against Prairie Ridge.
Steve Peterson
Huntley senior catcher Quinn Drews handles his duties against Prairie Ridge.

Sports • April 26, 2024

Solid baseball season keeps getting better

By

The vast majority of the Huntley baseball games have resulted in victories, leading to state-wide recognition and a lead in the Fox Valley Conference.

With 21 games in the books, the Red Raiders’ record stood at 18-2, 11-1 FVC. The Crystal Lake South Gators shocked Huntley, winning 3-1 on April 24 but HHS bounced back with a 9-3 victory April 25.

Also in the win column were an 11-6 triumph at Hampshire on April 23. On offense, AJ Putty had two hits with a home run, TJ Jakubowski also had two hits. Pitching were Josh Rudnick, Colby Aschenbach and Drew Borkowski stopped the Whip-Purs.

One of the leaders of HHS is senior catcher Quinn Drews.

In a game against Prairie Ridge, Drews was able to send a home run through a 30 MPH wind. The hit just kept going in the cross wind and cleared the left-field fence at Huntley. The prodigious blast gave Huntley a 2-0 lead over Prairie Ridge en route to a 3-0 victory April 17. He reached base three times that game.

“I thought it was going to be a double,” Drews said of the dinger against the Wolves.

“If there was going to be a home run hit today, it would have to be to left-field,” Huntley head coach Andy Jakubowski said. “The wind did not make it an advantage for hitters. But we made good contact, played good defense, and I was proud of our team effort.”

Drews stated that pitching was his initial position in baseball.

“I started first with pitching,” Drews said of his baseball career. He will continue baseball at University of Wisconsin-Whitewater next season. “I think the hardest part of catching is blocking pitches.”

Head coach Andy Jakubowski said Drews performs well both as a pitcher and when he catches.

“He does a great job behind the plate, is a good leader has a good breaking ball,” the coach said.

The Huntley starters have a combined 1.43 ERA and have topped 100 strikeouts. Against PR, Borkowski, Aschenbach and Rudnick all took the hill. Rudnick closed out the game with two runners on base.

HHS wins thriller

It was a playoff-type atmosphere when FVC rivals Huntley and Hampshire battled to a six-inning scoreless tie April 19.

Huntley’s thriller concluded with a 1-0 victory. Leske and Rudnick out-dueled Hampshire starter Anthony Karbowski, who allowed two hits and struck out nine.

“It was a great pitchers’ dual in a tremendous high school baseball game and we were fortunate enough to come out on top,” Andy Jakubowski said.

Heroes were aplenty in the seventh inning for HHS. Starting pitcher Mason Leske took the tie into one out in the seventh. Rudnick came through with two strikeouts with two runners on base.

Larson drilled a single to left field in the home half. He moved up to second on an error. Soph Travis Dudycha took advantage of two wild pitches to secure the thrilling victory.

In the 9-3 win over CLS, Borowski gained the pitching win while Putty had three hits including a home run, Jakubowski and Dabe each had three hits.

“We did a much better job with our hitting plan and played really good defense,” Andy Jakubowski said. “Our guys came out with much better intensity and it was a good bounce back win for us.”