Brady Kentgen’s 3-run homer sparks Marengo rout

RICHMOND – The curveball that Marengo junior Brady Kentgen crushed to right field landed high atop the batting cage beyond the fence.

And like that baseball Kentgen clubbed, Marengo’s offense keep going and going, scoring one run after another after another.

Trailing Richmond-Burton 1-0 in the top of the sixth inning Tuesday, the Indians – sparked by Kentgen’s three-run homer to start their scoring – scored six runs in the sixth and then 15 more in the seventh. They won 21-1, thus keeping alive their Kishwaukee River Conference title hopes.

Marengo (18-6, 10-3) needs to beat visiting Sandwich (10-2 KRC) on Wednesday and have Harvard upset Johnsburg (11-2) the same day in order to earn a share of the KRC championship with Johnsburg and Sandwich.

“Stuff happens,” Kentgen said. “Anything can really happen.”

Wild stuff happened for the Indians against Richmond-Burton (6-15, 5-8), which looked in position to pull off the upset with starting pitcher Logan Johnson in command.

Johnson retired the first 10 batters he faced, striking out five before David Lopez hit a sharp single through the hole with one out in the fourth. Marengo’s Quinn Lechner drew a leadoff walk in the sixth, and one out later Johnson hit Michael Kirchhoff for the second time.

Kentgen then belted one, high and far.

“I think I barreled it pretty well,” Kentgen said. “He left that curveball up there hanging, so I had to take a hack at it.”

It was the fourth homer of the season for the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Kentgen, an all-conference football player who belted two homers against visiting R-B in Marengo’s 13-3 win eight days earlier.

“He’s a big, strong kid,” Indians coach Nick Naranjo said. “Every time he comes up to the plate, we feel confident that he’s going to put a good swing on the ball and possibly have it go for extra bases.

“That [home run] was huge to lift us into the lead.”

Johnson responded with his sixth strikeout of the day, but walked the next hitter, and Rockets coach Mike Giese went to his bullpen. Three R-B relievers had little success. Marengo sent 30 batters to the plate in the sixth and seventh innings, smacking 11 hits and drawing eight walks.

“Give credit to Logan Johnson,” Giese said. “He pitched a great game. He went out there and kept us in it. That was one of the better starts he’s had this year. It’s just disappointing to see the effort behind him.”

Meanwhile, Marengo’s Johnson – Alex – pitched well himself. The righty went the distance, striking out seven and walking two. Cooper Nagel touched him for an RBI single in the third.

“He did an outstanding job today,” Naranjo said of his junior pitcher.

Marengo right fielder Max Broughton helped his pitcher out by recording a pair of assists. Broughton, a junior and varsity rookie, threw out Johnson trying to stretch a single into a double in the second inning, then triggered a 9-5 double play when he caught Nagel’s fly ball and threw a strike to third to cut down Max Martin in the fifth.

“That was a really good throw,” Kentgen said of Broughton’s second throw. “He’s been getting going. He’s an outstanding outfielder.”

Broughton hasn’t been throwing out runners regularly this season, Naranjo said, but the outfielder gave an example of why he’s a key player for the Indians.

“He’s got a really strong arm, and he’s accurate,” Naranjo said. “I feel he’s confident in those things that he can do. He’s a really nice player for us.”

Marengo’s 15-run seventh included two RBI singles by pinch hitter Sam Chaffin, Lopez’s two-run single, two more hits by Kentgen (3 for 5, four RBIs), Drew Litchfield’s two-run double, Caden Oine’s RBI single and RBI walk and a bad-hop RBI single by Alten Bergbreiter (2 for 4, double, three RBIs).

Martin, a freshman catcher who batted leadoff, and Grayson Morningstar each had two hits for R-B.

“There are a lot of things that happen when the wheels come off that hard, but it just represents the ups and downs we’ve had this year,” Giese said. “When the ball bounces and goes over [the second baseman’s head on Bergbreiter’s hit] by 20 feet, it’s just a symbol of our year.”