Danielak, Hersey a winner over Prospect

Hersey had the right guy on the mound for the first part of the winner-winner-take-all Mid-Suburban East baseball showdown with Prospect.

No one has won more games in the MSL the last two seasons than senior right-hander Steve Danielak. None have been bigger so far than his ninth this year and 17th in the last two years.

Danielak (9-3) threw a 6-hitter as host Hersey (23-8, 11-4) clinched at least a share of the East title with a 5-2 win in one hour and 38 minutes.

"He pitches big games because we need him to," said Hersey senior shortstop Alex Lee, who hit his sixth homer to lead off a 2-run first. "He always comes through in the clutch. He's our ace, he knows it and he pitches like it."

Danielak primarily used a fastball and cut fastball to throw 74 of his 103 pitches for strikes and finish with 9 strikeouts and 1 walk. Only 1 run was earned as the Huskies completed a season sweep that eliminated Prospect (17-11, 10-5) from a shot at making Saturday's MSL title game at West champion Fremd.

Buffalo Grove (17-11, 10-5) still has an outside shot but the Huskies can claim their eighth MSL division title for themselves by beating visiting Elk Grove on Wednesday.

"It's pretty exciting for us but we still have to take Wednesday seriously," said Danielak, who also had 2 hits. "We're looking to Wednesday and that's all right now."

Prospect righty John Coen (5-2) also threw a 6-hitter with only 80 pitches but lost for the second time to Hersey. Five errors led to 3 unearned runs.

"Johnny was outstanding and he did his job," said Prospect coach Ross Giusti. "At this level you've got to make the routine play. That's the reason we're 10-5 in conference instead of 13-2."

Coen's single, a wild pitch and Peter Bonahoom's double gave Prospect a run in the first. Danielak got double plays turned by Lee and second baseman Jay Livesay in the fourth and first baseman Chris Polinski stepping on the bag and firing to Lee for the tag at second to end the sixth.

"He spots his pitches well," Coen said. "We tried to adjust and move up in the box, but he still got it past us."

Lee lined a 1-1 curveball for his first leadoff homer of the year and Hersey's 35th.

"When I faced him before I was chasing the curveball early in the count," said Lee, who also had an RBI single in the second. "I figured I'd wait for the fastball and he threw the curveball, but I felt like I saw it and hit it hard."

Hersey catcher Sean Thompson also had two-out RBI singles in the first and fifth. Prospect got within 3-2 on Ed Gerdes' infield hit and throwing error, but Danielak left him at third by getting Bonahoom on a groundout.

"To do that against those guys - that lineup is scary," Hersey coach Bob Huber said of allowing only 2 earned runs in the wins over Prospect.

"I stayed composed," Danielak said. "From the second inning on I felt really good."

A familiar winning feeling.

Fremd 3, Hoffman 0: Senior lefty Clint Terry (7-4) threw a 5-hitter with 8 strikeouts and 1 walk as Fremd (17-11, 12-3) clinched its second straight outright MSL West title.

"Smitty (pitching coach Brian Smith) and I said it was probably his best day as far as consistently being able to throw his off-speed stuff for strikes," said Fremd coach Chris Piggott.

Terry got all the runs he needed in the second on a two-out single by Kevin Ciardiello and Evan Wright's opposite-field homer, his first of the year. Eric Paulson had an RBI single in the sixth as the Vikings won their ninth MSL division title.

Mike Kiviranta threw a 5-hitter for Hoffman (13-18, 6-9).

BG 7, Wheeling 6: BG (17-11, 10-5) escaped with a 3-run bottom of the seventh on Steve Pollakov's tying sacrifice fly and Jeremy Salzman scoring the winner on a wild pitch.

Greg Sanders and Tommy Ricciardi had 2 hits and 2 RBI and had back-to-back homers in the fourth. Winner Cody Iverson (3-0) threw a scoreless seventh and sophomore lefty Robert Hawkins allowed 1 unearned run and 1 hit in 41/3 innings of relief.

Palatine 6, Conant 2: Kevin Klein had 2 RBI and Alex Miramontes threw a 4-hitter for Palatine (17-13, 10-5) in the MSL West win at Conant (10-12, 4-10).

Barrington 7, Schaumburg 3: Tyler Tureck got the win for Barrington (19-13, 9-6) in the MSL West. Eric Englund and Matt Brancato, who had the game-winning double Saturday against Conant, had 2 hits for Schaumburg (8-16, 4-11).

Meadows 4, Elk Grove 2 (10 inn.): Matt Hendricks got the game-winning single in the top of the 10th and didn't allow an earned run as he went the distance for Meadows (9-20, 7-8). Kyle Pfister also went the distance with 10 strikeouts for Elk Grove (9-22, 4-11).

St. Patrick 6, St. Viator 2: Anthony Quagliano homered for St. Viator (15-15, 7-10) in the ESCC loss.