Hoffman continues to show resilience

Hoffman Estates has showed how resilient it is in the last week.

The Hawks had already bounced back from a 26-0 loss to Fremd last Wednesday. The Mid-Suburban West baseball leaders did it again Monday by scoring 8 unanswered runs in the final two innings to turn a 1-run deficit into an 11-4 crossover win at Rolling Meadows.

"We didn't even worry about it," Hoffman senior Chris Fett said of the Fremd loss. "We wanted to get back on track again. It motivated us even more to work even harder."

Fett had the game-tying RBI double and Kevin Tednes followed with the go-ahead single in the sixth. It was set up by a double by Trent Rehusch and a sacrifice by Joe Gordon.

Hoffman (9-9, 5-1) took a 3-0 lead on a sacrifice fly and RBI single by Zach Demmon and an RBI single by Colin Conway. Meadows (5-14, 3-3) scored 3 unearned runs in the third and went ahead in the fourth on an RBI single by Eric Lowe (4-for-4).

"Three weeks ago I think we would have panicked - and gone out and said, 'What do we do now,'" said Hoffman coach Todd Meador. "We huddled up and said, 'Let's play like conference champions.'"

Erik Smoy had 9 strikeouts and 1 walk in 5 innings for the win and Lance Vesper finished with 2 scoreless innings. Smoy had an RBI single and Mike Kiviranta had a 2-run single in the seventh.

"We feel we're mentally a lot more into the game than earlier this season," Tednes said.

"They pretty much beat us in every facet of the game," said Meadows coach Jim Lindeman. "I was impressed. They have confidence and it shows."

Hersey 6, Conant 5 (8 inn.): Steve Danielak doubled and Alex Lee had a one-out RBI single in the bottom of the eighth for MSL East leader Hersey (14-4, 5-1).

Conant (7-6, 1-5) tied it in the seventh on Nolan Drake's RBI single and a two-out error.Hersey's Ryan Busse had 10 strikeouts in 62/3 innings.

Fremd 11, Prospect 10: Vince Addison hit a 3-run homer in an 8-run fifth as Fremd (9-7, 4-2) went ahead to stay after rallying from a 5-0 deficit. Clint Terry also had a 2-run double in the inning.

Ed Gerdes and Peter Bonahoom had 2 hits and a double for Prospect (9-7, 2-3).

Elk Grove 5, Barrington 4 (8 inn.): Kyle Pfister (3-for-4, 3 RBI) had the game-winning single in the bottom of the eighth for Elk Grove (8-12, 3-3) in the MSL crossover with Barrington (11-10, 3-3). Winner Joe Majerus threw 21/3 innings of 1-hit relief.

BG 9, Schaumburg 5: Ryan Nisbet went 4-for-4 with a double and an RBI and Greg Sanders homered for Buffalo Grove (11-7, 4-2) and winner Jeremy Salzman (3-0). Mark Bielanski homered and doubled for Schaumburg (5-10, 1-5).

Palatine 8, Wheeling 3: Palatine (11-8, 4-2) broke a 3-3 tie in the fourth on Byron Skinner's sacrifice fly and Dan Haze's RBI single. Cody Bobbit and Mike Luschen had 3 hits and 2 RBI for winner Alex Miramontes (3-2).

Matt Hoffman had an RBI double and David Scanlon had a 2-run double in the third for Wheeling (4-13, 0-5).

Notre Dame 5, St. Viator 4: Matt Moran had the game-winning RBI in the bottom of the seventh for Notre Dame (12-5, 4-1) in the East Suburban Catholic. Julian Sipiora homered for Viator (10-7, 3-2).