Friday, May. 09, 2008

Ridge tops Heights in Game One

By BRYCE NIEMAN

Logan Kasabian got the start on the mound for the Fossil Ridge baseball team Thursday night, but it was his base hit in the bottom of the ninth that gave the Panthers a 3-2 win and a 1-0 lead over Arlington Heights in their area round matchup.

Kasabian went head-to-head with Heights ace Walker Kelly for five innings, each giving up two runs. Kyle Estill came in to relieve Kasabian in the sixth while Kelly pitched through eight frames, though neither hurler would budge.

It finally came down to a Ridge rally in the bottom of the ninth.

Facing Yellow Jackets reliever Chris Ryan, the Panthers loaded the bases with no outs thanks to a base hit by Jason Heflin, a Carlos Rodriguez double and Brace Dunham being intentionally walked.

Ryan fought back with a three-pitch strike out and got up on Kasabian with a ball and two strikes. Kasabian connected on the next pitch, dropping it into shallow right field as Heflin came in for the game-winning score.

"I knew I just needed to get something to the outfield to score the guy on third," Kasabian said. "A sac fly would've scored him; a base hit would've scored him."

Kasabian got the base hit, Estill got the win and the Panthers got a 1-0 advantage in the best-of-three Class 4A Region I area round series. The hit was Kasabian's second of the night -- the only Panther with a multi-hit game -- as he also went five innings on the mound giving up two runs on three hits while striking out three.

"All I have to do is throw strikes," Kasabian said. "I know I have a great defense behind me."

Arlington Heights led off the night's scoring bringing in a run on a wild pitch in the top of the first inning.

Ridge countered with two in the bottom of the frame. Jacob Bermejo got a one-out single, then scored on a Brendan Alvey triple. Alvey came across to score when the next batter, Heflin, grounded out to second.

Facing Heights' top pitcher and TCU commit Kelly, Ridge coach Doug Dulany said he had expected to have to wait until later in the game to see his offense have success.

"As it turned out we got two in the first and that was it," Dulany said.

The coach said he felt his batters did a good job making Kelly work by fouling off pitches. In particular he cited Kasabian's at-bat before his game winning hit in which the Panther hung in for a 10-pitch at bat before grounding out.

"That got (Kelly) out of the game one inning earlier than he would've been," Dulany said. "It doesn't show up in the box score, but all that adds up."

Kelly did his part to give his team a chance to win. Outside of the first inning, he held Ridge scoreless giving up just two hits. He also struck out 13 batters including seven of the last nine hitters he faced, throwing 122 pitches over eight innings.

Estill, meanwhile, gave up just two hits and struck out four in his four innings of relief work.

Dulany said his team feels pretty good about what it was able to accomplish, but the Panthers know they haven't won anything yet as the series will continue Friday night on the Yellow Jackets' home field

"Now we'll go over there and see if we can't close this thing out," Dulany said.

Game Two of the series is set for 7:30 p.m. Friday at Arlington Heights. Should the Yellow Jackets win, the third and deciding game of the series will be noon Saturday at Grapevine.