Smoy, Hoffman Estates soaring

Hoffman Estates' baseball team is believing, and the rest of the Mid-Suburban League is starting to see why.

The host Hawks weren't fazed by a 5-run deficit Monday afternoon against Palatine's powerful offense.

And the Hawks (7-8, 3-0) came through in tough spots. They scored the last of their 8 two-out runs on Erik Smoy's RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning to cap a dramatic 10-9 victory and take sole possession of first place in the MSL West.

"We're starting to get more clutch at-bats," said Hoffman senior Colin Conway, whose 3-run double was part of a 6-run fifth. "We were struggling with that early in the season."

But the Hawks have rebounded from a 1-7 start to win five in a row. They recovered from a 7-2 deficit after 41/2 innings as Mike Luschen had a pair of RBI singles and Jim Smearman homered for Palatine (9-7, 2-1).

They also had to beat hard-throwing Palatine ace Byron Skinner in relief. Mike Kiviranta blooped a one-out RBI single to right for a 9-8 lead in the sixth.

Palatine tied it on a two-out, two-strike wild pitch in the seventh. But with two outs in the bottom half, the lefty-hitting Smoy (3-for-5) lined the first pitch to left and Chris Fett (3-for-4) sped around from second to a wild celebration at home plate.

"I watched him when he first started pitching and he was throwing a first-pitch fastball," said Smoy, who flied deep to center his first 2 at-bats. "I was trying to find a hole."

Hoffman tied it at 2-2 in the third on an RBI double by Zach Demmon and Kiviranta's RBI single. Palatine parlayed sacrifice bunts by Kevin Klein and Trey Cannon and a bunt single by Joe Campe into a 4-run fourth.

Hoffman answered with a bigger fifth as Conway lined a bases-clearing double to left.

"Miserable," Conway said of strikeouts his first two at-bats. "I tired to calm down and look for a fastball and fortunately I got one."

Fett's 2-run single put Hoffman up 8-7.

"We've made this turnaround because it's been a team effort," said Hoffman coach Todd Meador. "Different guys in different situations are coming through and that's what excites me."

Cody Bobbit (2-for-2) tied it for Palatine at 8-8 with a sixth-inning sacrifice fly.

"Our kids hit the ball but (Hoffman) kept battling," Palatine coach Paul Belo said. "They're scrappy, they believe in themselves and they're a good ballclub. There's no reason to be surprised by them at this point."

Prospect 12, Meadows 11 (8 inn.): Peter Bonahoom hit a game-winning 2-run homer with one out in the bottom of the eighth to give Prospect (9-4, 2-1) the MSL East win.

Kyle Kapka tied it at 10-10 in the bottom of the seventh with his third double. The Knights got 2 hits from John Coen, Ed Gerdes and Thomas Kelly, who homered, and winner Jake Sofinski allowed 1 run in 3 innings.

Kevin Cwynar went 3-for-5 with a homer for Meadows (4-11, 2-1) and Eric Lowe, Steve Rickerson, Steve Heer, Jon Bonell and Chris Varilek had 2 hits apiece.

Schaumburg 2, Fremd 1: Schaumburg (5-6, 1-2) scored twice in the top of the sixth junior lefty Kurt Kempema (2-1) outdueled Fremd (5-6, 1-2) senior lefty Clint Terry (3-3) in the MSL West.

Kempema threw 102 pitches and scattered 5 hits with 5 strikeouts and 1 walk. Kurt Kaufman drove in Fremd's run with a two-out single in the first.

Schaumburg tied it on Matt Brancato's RBI single. Kevin Hilliard followed with a bloop double and the go-ahead run scored on an error.

BG 6, Elk Grove 4: Jeremy Salzman (2-0) allowed only 2 earned runs and 5 hits and had 5 strikeouts and 1 walk in a complete game for Buffalo Grove (8-6, 1-2) in the MSL East.

Ryan Nisbet doubled and tripled, Salzman and Andrew Van Wazer went 2-for-3 with an RBI and Jimmy Pinakidis homered. Ryan Daubenspeck hit his fourth homer for Elk Grove (6-10, 2-1).

Barrington 3, Conant 2: Devin Gallagher hit a pinch-hit RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to give Barrington (8-8, 1-2) the MSL West win over Conant (7-3, 1-2). Robby McDonnell (4-2) threw a 5-hitter with 13 strikeouts and 3 walks and Anthony Brignola and Jack Scheffler went 2-for-3.

Hersey 8, Wheeling 1: Steve Danielak (5-0) threw a 4-hitter with 7 strikeouts and 1 walk for Hersey (10-3, 2-1) in the MSL East. Sean Thompson (3 RBI), Jake Knauss (2 RBI) and Alex Lee had 2 hits.

Matt Hart drove in the Wheeling (4-11, 0-3) run in the first.

Maine West 9, Waukegan 1: Tony Meza got the complete-game win for Maine West (8-6) in the Central Suburban League crossover.

Leyden 5, Riverside-Brookfield 1: Jeremy Stawychny (4-0) threw a 5-hitter with 12 strikeouts and 1 walk and had 2 RBI and Dom Messina went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI as Leyden (11-5) won its fifth straight.