No. 16 McHenry Defeats No. 15 Cary Grove Behind Miller's Complete Game

April 11, 2017

By Drew Locascio
Illinois Scouting Director

No. 16 McHenry 4, No. 15 Cary Grove 1

CARY, IL - No. 16 McHenry knocked off No. 15 Cary Grove 4-1 in the first game of a three game Fox Valley conference series. The game featured two of the top arms in their respective classes facing off. McHenry (6-2) had senior Bobby Miller on the mound and Cary Grove (8-3) countered with sophomore right-hander Quinn Priester. In the end, Miller came out victorious, twirling a complete game with 10 strikeouts.

Miller was impressive throughout, throwing all seven innings, on 99 pitches, scattering six hits, allowing one earned run and one walk. The 6-foot-5, 190-pound Louisville commit, primarily used a fastball/curveball combination to keep Cary Grove hitters at bay. His fastball which occasionally gets late arm-side action sat 89-92 mph early and was still 89-91 in the fifth inning.

Miller’s only hiccup in the tightly contested affair was a two-out double in the bottom of the third inning to Cary Grove leadoff hitter Ryan Ignoffo with the game tied 0-0. Ignoffo would then score the only run of the game for the Trojans after Tyler Pennington, the following hitter, dumped in a run-scoring single to left field.

The game was ultimately decided in the top of the sixth inning when McHenry plated three runs and took a 3-1 lead. Miller led off the inning for McHenry with a double over the left-fielders head. Priester, the Cary Grove starter, was able to retire the next two batters and looked to be on the verge of getting out of trouble. However, back to back walks loaded the bases, a wild pitch tied the game and then an errant throw by the shortstop led to a total of three runs for the Warriors.

McHenry would tack on another run in the seventh, thanks to a sacrifice fly by Nick Finley scoring Brendon LoPresti, who led off the frame with a double to right center.

Priester was equally as impressive as Miller on the mound. Priester, one of the top sophomore’s in the state, allowed two hits, no runs, struck out six and walked only one before trouble occurred in the sixth. The 6-foot-3, 185-pound right-hander showed extreme polish and arm strength for someone his age for most of the start. Early on his fastball sat almost exclusively at 90-91 mph, touching 92 and 93 once in the second. He only dipped below 90 mph a couple of times in the first two innings. In his sixth and final inning, his fastball was still sitting 88-89 mph. He also features two off-speed pitches with plus potential to go along with his live fastball. Priester is able to go to his curveball and changeup in any count and got numerous swing and misses on his curveball throughout.

For more in-depth notes from the game - and all other games that we cover - visit the Illinois Scout Blog later.