Red Raiders quintet gains All-FVC

HUNTLEY — Five Huntley baseball players were named to the  All-Fox Valley Conference team as selected by league coaches.

Seniors Malachi Paplanus, a pitcher and designated hitter Kyle Larson along with juniors first baseman AJ Putty and second baseman TJ Jakubowski and sophomore pitcher Drew Borkowski were named All-FVC. The Red Raiders won the league title with a 14-4 record. HHS has won the league championship for six straight seasons.

HHS was 29-8-1 overall following a 22-7 loss to McHenry in the Class 4A sectional final clash at Hampshire June 3.

Several HHS accomplishments included its sixth straight FVC title and seventh regional crown in a row. HHS had downed Barrington 6-3 in the sectional semifinal May 29.

Final game

McHenry dominated the final four innings of a suspended game for a 22-7 win over the Red Raiders in the Class 4A sectional final clash at Hampshire June 3. McHenry then lost to York at the Geneva super-sectional. Huntley head coach Andy Jakubowski complimented the Warriors on their advancement.

“We gave 22 freebies, and you can’t give up 22 freebies,” Andy Jakubowski said. “That’s walks, hit by pitch, errors, and stolen bases and you can’t do that against a good team. They earned it and good luck to them at Kane County. The goal was to get zero or one run in the third and have 15 outs to play with and try to chip away. We got two back (in the third) and their offense just exploded from there. We didn’t have anything to match it.”

Looking at the big picture, Andy Jakubowski was happy with the season as a whole.

“Our guys have nothing to hang their heads about. We just got beat by a better team. That’s the game of baseball,” Andy Jakubowski said.

Crystal Lake Central represented the FVC at the IHSA State Baseball Tournament and won the Class 3A championship with a 3-2 victory over Lemont.