Prairie Ridge wins despite ‘goofy’ play

CRYSTAL LAKE – Gabriel Porter never flinched during the chaos, barely broke stride and almost stole three bases on one play.

OK, so the speedy Prairie Ridge senior was tagged out at home plate to end the bottom of the fourth on a wacky play, thanks only to a heads-up play by Hampshire first baseman Anthony Karbowski. What mattered most for the host Wolves was that they didn’t let the potential momentum-changer derail their winning ways.

Prairie Ridge pulled away late Wednesday, capturing an 8-1 decision to stay perfect in the Fox Valley Conference, while handing the Whip-Purs their fourth conference loss. The teams play a rematch Thursday at Hampshire.

“FVC,” Porter said, “you don’t know what’s going to happen, ever.”

Karson Stiefer was 3 for 4 with a pair of RBI singles, Porter and Brennan Coyle each went 2 for 2 with a walk, and Danny Savas consistently wriggled out of trouble to throw 5⅓ innings of one-run ball with nine strikeouts and four walks, as the Wolves improved to 13-3-1 and 5-0 in the FVC.

“Team chemistry,” the UW-Parkside bound Stiefer said of the key to the Wolves’ success the first month of the season. “Ever since freshman year, all of these guys have been super close. ... We have a great coaching staff out here. We’re playing together, playing team baseball. No one’s selfish, and it’s amazing.”

Amazing might describe the final out of the Wolves’ fourth.

“It was a goofy play,” Porter said.

The Loras-bound Porter played a big part. With PR up 2-1 thanks to Maddon McKim’s RBI double in the third, Porter drew a two-out walk from Hampshire starter Wilson Wemhoff.

Porter then stole second as Riley Golden stood in the batter’s box with two strikes. The problem was, Hampshire (14-4, 1-4) thought the home-plate umpire rang up strike three on Golden, thus negating Porter’s stolen base. Catcher Nathan Kolder vacated home plate, as the entire Whips infield assumed the inning was over.

That’s when the chaos started.

“I thought it was over, too,” Karbowski said. “I watched the ump’s facial expressions. I knew the kid rounding second (Porter) was going to try [to score], so I just followed him home. I was yelling at (shortstop) Cole (Harkin) to throw me the ball.”

With no Hampshire player near third base, Porter took off and never stopped running. With the ball in his mitt, Karbowski raced toward home plate and applied the tag on a sliding Porter just in time.

“I saw I was safe [at second base], and then I looked and the umpire was saying safe,” Porter said. “So I ran to third, and the umpire was still saying safe, and then I just ran home.”

“[Karbowski] did a great job,” Whips coach Frank Simoncelli said of his Louisville-bound lefty first baseman/pitcher. “We were yelling, ‘Go, go, go,’ and he just took off.”

Hampshire couldn’t capitalize on the possible shift in momentum. Shane Pfeiffer led off the Whips’ fifth with a single, but the visitors went quietly after that, which summed up their day.

Savas, PR’s Millikin-bound righty, got a strikeout to get himself out of a bases-loaded jam in the first. He then stranded three again in the second, getting a force out and strike out after Wemhoff singled in the Whips’ only run.

“I always have confidence when Danny steps up to the mound,” Stiefer said. “I have nothing but confidence in him. I know whatever situation he gets himself into that he’s going to get himself out of it. He’s a dog.”

Bradley-bound Ari Fivelson went 3 for 3 with a walk, and Wemhoff added two hits, but Hampshire left 13 runners on base. The Whips stranded at least one runner in each inning. Trailing 4-1 in the sixth, they loaded the bases with one out, but Wolves reliever Ryan Myers got Karbowski to bounce a sharply hit ball to shortstop Gabriel Winkleman, who started a 6-4-3 double play.

“We didn’t really help ourselves,” Simoncelli said. “They had timely hitting. We didn’t have timely hitting. If we had that earlier in the game, it might have been a different ballgame.”

PR’s Conner Pollasky also had two hits, including an RBI double and a run-scoring single.