Elk Grove finds escape routes

Elk Grove and Cody Gustafson faced a couple of major late-afternoon traffic jams Tuesday in the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association Phil Lawler Summer Classic.

But Gustafson found his way out of bases-loaded, one-out situations in the fifth and seventh innings unscathed. No. 12 Elk Grove (13-8) pulled out a 6-5 victory in nine innings over No. 4 Bartlett in a Lake Park regional second-round game played at Glenbard North.

“That was some game,” said Elk Grove coach Terry Beyna, who used an outfielder as a fifth infielder in the seventh. “We were as far back against the wall as we could go. It looked like it was over twice.”

Gustafson pitched 5⅓ shutout innings in relief after Bartlett rallied from a 5-1 deficit to tie the game. Michael Anciulis’ sacrifice fly in the top of the ninth broke the tie.

Luc Dimaso was 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and Mike Fox was 2-for-2 for the Grenadiers. They will host No. 8 St. Viator, a 4-3 winner over No. 16 Glenbard North, in today’s 5:30 p.m. semifinal.

St. Viator 4, Glenbard North 3: Chris Myjak threw a 5-hitter and Jake Soprych and Brian Wilhite went 2-for-3 with an RBI as No. 8 Viator (12-9) took a 4-0 lead after four innings and held on.

“I never felt like we were really in danger of losing the game,” Viator coach Mike Manno said, “even when they scored the run (in the seventh) to cut it to one. We played great defense.”

Myjak threw 105 pitches and had 3 strikeouts and 2 walks.

Schaumburg 4, Lake Park 0: Max Paolicchi, who will be a junior, threw a 3-hitter with 4 strikeouts and 1 walk for No. 3 Schaumburg (15-5).

“My kid was never really threatened,” said Schaumburg coach Paul Groot. “He did a great job.”

Schaumburg got the only run it needed with two out in the first when Thomas Byrne scored on a first-and-third play with Matt Brancato.

Brayden Teele had an RBI double and Byrne had an RBI single for a 3-0 lead in the second and Brancato had a sacrifice fly. The Saxons will face No. 2 Huntley in today’s 5:30 p.m. semifinal at Lake Park.

Huntley 9, Hersey 1: Erik Stoltzner drove in the run for No. 7 Hersey in the sixth.

Palatine regional

Fremd 7, Glenbrook North 0: Lee Breitzman needed only 77 pitches to throw a complete-game 5-hitter with 5 strikeouts and 1 walk for top-seed Fremd (16-3).

“He located the ball well and kept the ball down,” said Fremd coach Chris Piggott. “He was really getting his curveball and changeup over for strikes.”

Zach Kolakowski was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI and 2 steals and Keith Browning and Alec Dompke had a hit and 2 runs. Fremd plays a 10 a.m. semifinal today at Palatine against No. 4 Maine South, an 8-1 winner over Deerfield.

Notre Dame 1, Palatine 0: A stellar pitcher’s duel between Tony Marcellino of No. 6 Notre Dame and David Schalla of No. 3 Palatine (16-11) came down to a two-out hit in the third inning.

Rob Getty’s double produced the only run off Schalla, who threw a 5-hitter with 8 strikeouts and 1 walk. Marcellino also threw a 5-hitter with 8 strikeouts and 2 walks.

Fenwick regional

Nazareth beat Maine West 7-1 and Lyons beat Leyden 12-2 in second-round games.

American Legion

Offense wasn’t a problem for Barrington in its Second Division tournament opener against host Lena.

But pitching put Barrington (25-13) in an early hole and it lost 16-10 to Lena (21-3) in the five-team, double-elimination tourney.

“It was an ugly game and we kind of limped into the tournament (pitching-wise),” said Barrington coach Pat Wire, whose team trailed 8-2 and 13-4. “We kept fighting and never gave up but they kept on getting extra runs on us.”

Frank Waliczek went 3-for-3 with 2 doubles, Derek Foderaro was 2-for-4 with 2 RBI, John O’Connell went 2-for-4 and Macray Poidomani had a hit, 3 walks and 2 RBI.

Barrington plays an elimination game at 7 p.m. today against Fulton, which lost 11-8 to Elgin. Wire said Waliczek would start with Max Redpath in relief.

“Our backs are against the wall and we’ll see what we can do,” Wire said. “If we get through this we’ll have all of our guys (starters Chris Rogers, Greg Gerrard and Wyatt Trautwein) lined up and ready to go.”