John Gariepy does what he does, pitches Crystal Lake Central to victory

CRYSTAL LAKE – The last time John Gariepy batted in a varsity baseball game, he hit a sacrifice fly.

That was almost two years ago.

Gariepy only pitches for Crystal Lake Central these days, and the 6-foot senior right-hander pitches well. He was a member of the Tigers’ rotation last year when they won the Class 3A state championship, and he showed again Friday on a cool and drizzly day that he’s still a master at his craft.

He threw six innings of one-hit ball, striking out eight and walking two, as Central beat Lakes 5-0 in a nonconference game.

“I like to say that I make people not want to hit because I can’t hit,” Gariepy said with a smile. “[Pitching] is the best way I can contribute to the team and make the team better. If it involves me not hitting, so be it.”

Gariepy, who over the winter committed to pitch for NCAA Division II University of Missouri-St. Louis, kept Lakes off balance with a fastball, slider and changeup. He and Tigers pitching coach Austin Padjen originally had a curveball as part of a four-pitch mix, but Gariepy’s other pitches were working so well that they never called for it.

Central played errorless ball behind Gariepy, who set down 16 batters in a row after a leadoff walk to Ethan Jablonski to start the game. Jablonski broke up Gariepy’s no-hit bid with a soft line drive into center field with one out in the sixth.

“I was aware of it,” Gariepy said of the no-hitter. “I just didn’t want to let the team down. I wanted to do anything to keep the team in the game. I think, as a team, we all rallied behind each other.”

Gariepy left the game with Central (4-4-1) up 2-0. The Tigers scored twice in the first when Wade Ozment’s two-out ground ball took a high hop off shortstop Jablonski’s glove and rolled into shallow left field, scoring Carter Kelley (one-out walk) and Rhett Ozment (single).

Gariepy got out of his only jam in the sixth. Lakes (4-3) had runners on second and third with one out, but Gariepy got a called third strike and groundout to end the threat.

“He was able to throw multiple pitches for strikes when he needed to,” Lakes coach Chris Hoffman said. “It’s tough to hit, especially when it’s cold out. He did a nice job.”

Clutch is what the defending state champs do.

“We always try to push ourselves to compete in great moments, and I think we did that,” Gariepy said. “We fielded perfectly. It gave us a chance to stay in the game, and props to my catcher (Max Geske). He called a great game, and so did my pitching coach (Padjen). The key to success all happens behind the scene.”

Kelley, who started in center field, pitched the seventh. The Tigers lefty struck out two and allowed one hit. James Dreher’s two-run double and Carter’s run-scoring double gave Central three insurance runs in the sixth. Ethan Wolf, Konner Altergott and Geske – the bottom of Central’s lineup – also had hits in the win.

“We played some great defense today,” Tigers coach Cal Aldridge said. “We picked up the ball well behind John, and Carter came in and threw strikes to get out of that [seventh] inning and end the game, and I thought we finished the game with some good at-bats also.”

Aldridge liked how Gariepy threw strikes and attacked.

“He’s been doing a great job,” Aldridge said. “He’s competitor. Whenever he’s on the mound, we got a chance to win the game.”

Ean Ankney had Lakes’ only other hit, a one-out single in the seventh.

“We hit five, six, seven balls on the nose but right at people,” Hoffman said. “We had opportunities to score guys, but they made plays.”