Baseball/Fox Valley roundup
Burlington Central clinches share of Big Northern East: With a 14-4 win over Genoa-Kingston in 5 innings, Central (21-8, 9-1) earned a share of the Big Northern East with Richmond-Burton. Eight of the Rockets’ runs came in the top of the first as Tanner Scott was 2-for-3 with 2 RBI. Ray Hunnicut was perfect at the plate with 3 hits and Zach Ranney went 1-for-3 with 3 RBI. Ranney was also sharp on the mound, going 4 innings and giving up just 2 hits.
St. Edward 4, Westminster Christian 3: Down 3-2 going into the seventh, St. Edward put 2 runs across and Jack Tierney’s game-winning RBI was the difference in this nonconference showdown between teams that could meet again next week in a regional semifinal. Michael Castoro and Luke Duffy each had doubles while Jacob and Tighe Koehring had 2 hits a piece for St. Edward. Tyler Green, Ryan Perez (RBI) and Chase Woods (RBI) each had doubles for Westminster in the loss. Clay DeHaan suffered the loss while Dylan Scully started and gave up 2 earned runs on 4 hits in 3 innings of work.
Crystal Lake South 5, Dundee-Crown 1: Jordan Van Dyck (9-1) pitched a complete game 6-hitter to give the Gators (23-8, 14-2) another Fox Valley Conference win over the Chargers. Van Dyck also had 3 RBI to help his cause while Max Meitzler notched 2 doubles. Erik Brewer (2-5) suffered the loss for Dundee-Crown (7-16, 4-12), giving up 5 earned runs in 4 innings pitched.
Prairie Ridge 3, Jacobs 2: Jordan Getzelman broke a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the seventh with a walk off, solo shot to get the F VC win over Jacobs (15-12, 9-6). Tim Mahoney was 2-for-3 for the Golden Eagles in the loss.
Batavia 2, Larkin 1: Brayden Royse (2-3) was an out away from a 2-hit shutout until the Bulldogs’ Sam Burnoski ripped a walk-off, 2-run double to spoil the party for the Royals (8-20, 5-15) in Upstate Eight River play. Royse allowed just 3 hits and suffered the loss. “We pitched too well to lose,” Larkin coach Matt Esterino said.
St. Charles North 13, Elgin 3: Chris Edwards (2-for-2) and Gage Teschner (1-for-3) got hits across in this UEC River loss for Elgin (10-18, 4-15), who were outhit 16-4. Ryan Sitter (2-5) gave up 7 earned runs and 10 hits in 3 innings pitched.
Bartlett 9, East Aurora 3: Robert Sadowski (3-1) struck out 9 and allowed just a single hit in the Hawks’ UEC Valley win. Ben Havel’s 2 hits included a double and 4 RBI. The Hawks (13-16, 8-11) outhit the Tomcats 9-1 as they used a 4-run first innings to set the tone.
Metea Valley 9, South Elgin 0: The Mustangs tacked on 4 in the second, 3 in the fifth and 2 in the sixth and outhit the Storm 12-5 to preserve a UEC Valley win. Andrew Weedman was 1-for-3 with a double and David Goins doubled as well for South Elgin (16-8, 13-7). Eric Stazy (4-2) absorbed the loss in 5 innings pitched.
Hampshire 6, Woodstock 5 (9 inn.): Mike Laramie (2-for-4, 2 RBI) helped forced the game into extras with an RBI basehit in the seventh and then concluded matters with a walk-off RBI basehit in the ninth for the FVC win. Jeremy Gogoel won in relief for Hampshire (10-15-1, 4-8), allowing just a hit and no earned runs in 2 innings pitched. Hampshire has won 3-straight in the FVC after dropping 11 consecutive conference games.
College baseball
Judson begins NAIA tournament with loss: The Eagles (46-13) dropped into the loser’s bracket of the NAIA playoffs after a 9-5 loss to Rogers State, pinning them against Dakota State at 11 a.m. today. Brian Brauer knocked in an RBI and had 2 hits and Frank Oliver cranked in his first collegiate homer on a 2-run shot. Tyler Ware took the loss.