Lappa makes most of opportunity for Conant

Jared Lappa didn't mope as he hoped for an opportunity.

The Conant junior worked to make an impression on head coach Jerry Song and assistant Art Stevenson. On Friday, Lappa was rewarded with a start in left field and his first action in a varsity game.

More time figures to be coming Lappa's way as he had 2 singles and 3 RBI in his first two at-bats from the No. 9 spot and Conant (7-2, 1-1) pounded out 16 hits in a 13-3 Mid-Suburban West baseball win in six innings over visiting Schaumburg (4-5, 0-2).

"Everybody was jacked up for him - it was great to see," said Conant coach Jerry Song.

"I was pretty excited and happy to get in the game," Lappa said. "I've been practicing hard and I was ready to make my opportunity."

Conant also rebounded from a missed one in Wednesday's loss to Hoffman Estates by scoring in every inning. Leadoff man Jon Altobelli was 4-for-5 with 2 doubles, Kevin Carman went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and sophomore Kyle Gizynski went 3-for-5 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI.

Joe Belmonte also had 2 hits and an RBI and Otto Linderman had an RBI single to back winner Paul Warble (3-1).

"We were really mad about losing a conference game," Lappa said. "It felt good to get a win against our rivals."

Schaumburg had 12 hits with 2 each from Mark Bielanski, Kevin Hilliard, Matt Brancato and Connor McHugh.

"We need to be students of the game and we're making a lot of mental errors along with physical errors," said Schaumburg coach Paul Groot. "I'm not displeased with the effort at times but we've been giving away too many runs."

Hoffman 10, Barrington 2: Two big innings were more than enough Hoffman Estates (4-8, 2-0) starter Trent Rehusch in the MSL West win. Rehusch scattered 8 hits and allowed only 1 earned run and had 8 strikeouts and 1 walk.

The Hawks had 13 hits and took control with a 4-run third and 5-run fourth against Barrington (7-7, 0-2) senior Sean Buchholz. Kevin Tednes (3 RBI), Chris Fett, Zach Demmon, Mike Kiviranta and Joe Gordon had 2 hits apiece.

Meadows 12, Hersey 6: Rolling Meadows (4-9, 2-0) scored 6 runs in the first en route to a 9-0 lead as Steve Rickerson (3-for-4) and Steve Heer (2-for-3) each had 3 RBI. Winner Eric Lowe (1-1) had 7 strikeouts and 1 walk in 62/3 innings.

Alex Lee and John Sauer had 2 hits for Hersey (8-3, 1-1).

Palatine 14, Fremd 6: Cody Bobbit went 4-for-4 and Kurt Becker was 3-for-5 with a homer to lead a 17-hit Palatine (8-6, 2-0) attack in the MSL West win at Fremd (4-5, 1-1).

Dan Haze (4 RBI), Trey Cannon, Joe Campe and Kevin Klein had 2 hits. Tom Galvan got the victory and Joe Walsh went 22/3 innings for the save.

Prospect 14, BG 4 (5 inn.): Winning pitcher John Coen (3-0) continued his torrid hitting as he went 3-for-3 in the five-inning MSL East win at Prospect (8-4, 1-1). Coen is hitting .660 (31-for-47).

Kyle Kapka, Jack Landwehr, Thomas Kelly and Ed Gerdes had 2 hits for the Knights against visiting BG (7-5, 0-2).

Elk Grove 4, Wheeling 2: Kyle Pfister (1-4) threw a 3-hitter and didn't allow an earned run for Elk Grove (4-8, 2-0) in the MSL East. Pfister had 4 strikeouts and 2 walks.

Ryan Daubenspeck had 3 hits and 2 doubles for the Grenadiers. Steve Yfantis and Matt Hoffman doubled for Wheeling (4-9, 0-2).