Team-first attitude fuels Mount Prospect

A team-first attitude led Mount Prospect’s American Legion baseball team to its first tournament title in nearly a decade.

A mix of family and college commitments and a couple of player defections left Prospect short-handed for its trip to Danville last weekend. But it didn’t come up short in determination as it went 3-1 and won the tournament as Jeremy Berger and Brad Moore combined on a 3-hitter in a 1-0 title-game win over Effingham.

“I’m looking forward to the year because we have a really great bunch of guys,” said Prospect coach Tom Krumsee. “That makes it really easy.”

Winning the title wasn’t easy as Prospect had to win two games Sunday. Berger went the distance on 85 pitches in an 8-3 win broken open by Richard Carusillo’s 3-run double in the seventh.

Berger then came back to go the first 4 innings against Effingham for the victory with Moore getting the save. A first-inning double by Moore and a two-out infield single by Nick Nolan set up a double steal for the only run.

“(Berger) came to me and said, ‘Coach, I can go and I have more in me,’” Krumsee said. “Under normal circumstances I wouldn’t do it but he was around 125 pitches for the day. I really based it inning by inning and talking with him. In the fourth inning, I knew he was done and I could see he was hitting the wall.”

Moore started the opener and threw only 60 pitches in 5 innings before Sean Reszotko finished a 3-0 win over Danville. Berger made an over-the-shoulder running grab at second base and Dan Larson made a diving grab in left field while Trevor Haas had a sacrifice fly and Jack Warner hit a vicious shot that caromed off the second baseman’s face and went all the way to the fence for an RBI double.

Krumsee liked what he saw out of starter Mark Witzke in a 5-3 loss that was tied going into the seventh as Josh Koutnik homered. Warner and Berger are also taking advantage of unexpected opportunities at shortstop and second base after two players left the team.

“These other guys are willing to do what it takes and that’s the positive side of it all,” Krumsee said.

Barrington quickly heats up: Barrington improved to 10-4 overall and a 10th District leading 6-1 with Wednesday’s 13-11 comeback win over Waukegan as Justin Dragosz went 4-for-5 with a go-ahead 3-run homer and 4 RBI and Chris Coco homered.

Offense has not been a problem with Frank Waliczek (.516, team-high 12 RBI), Macray Poidomani (.458, 13 runs), Coco (.455), Ryan Lidge (.417, 9 RBI) and Max Redpath (.500). Sophomores-to-be Jake Peterson (.323, 9 RBI), Mitchell Pfeiffer (.480, 8 steals) and Jake Coon (.300, 9 RBI) have fit right in.

“We’re hitting well and we have a good supporting cast right now,” said Barrington coach Pat Wire. “We’re riding the coattails of good pitching and hopefully we can continue to keep it up.”

Jon Rogers is 3-0 and has allowed only 1 earned run in 19 innings. Scott Nelson (1.14 ERA), Redpath (1.31) and Waliczek (2.80) have been solid.

“(Rogers) is pounding the zone,” Wire said. “He’s getting ahead of all the hitters and ultimately he can throw any pitch in any count. We’re ecstatic with him.”

Barrington expects more big tests this weekend when it hosts its annual Mid-Summer Classic with defending champion Lake Zurich, Arlington, Palatine, Lake In The Hills and teams from Indiana and Wisconsin.

“We’ll see where we’re at,” Wire said.

Pitching good and bad news for Elk Grove: An encouraging sign for Elk Grove was lefty Paul Warble’s four 1-hit innings in Wednesday’s 13-1 win in 5 innings over Mount Prospect. Warble also threw two innings last week in a win over the Chicago Indians.

“He felt good,” said Elk Grove coach Brian Mucha. “We’re right on schedule with him.”

The bad news was hard-throwing righty Robert Romano’s season is over after a partial muscle tear in his elbow will require surgery. But there were other solid efforts in a 3-1 finish in last weekend’s Wheaton tournament as Chris Myjak went 6 innings and Ryan Hayes finished a 3-0 win over downstate Aviston, Dan Guido beat Portage Park and Art Sutter stopped reigning Second Division champion Elgin.

“Our pitching is right where it needs to be,” Mucha said.

Brancato and Myjak hit back-to-back homers against Prospect. Mucha said shortstop Thomas Byrne has hit the ball well and Colin Bethran had a big weekend in Wheaton.

“He’s hitting the heck out of the ball,” Mucha said.

Elk Grove will have the next two weekends off but faces Northbrook next Tuesday and the Chicago Indians on Wednesday.

Nice start for Palatine: Coach Jeff Ryder had no complaints with his team’s 3-2 record and third-place finish at the Wheaton tourney. Palatine lost 10-9 to Northbrook in the semifinals.

“The good thing about the tourney is we could see what we have and spread things around a lot,” Ryder said. “It’s a great way to build the unity of the team.”

Austin Jetel suffered a tough 2-1 loss in the tourney opener in a game that ended on a run in the bottom of the seventh and lasted only 70 minutes. Palatine also got a boost with the addition of pitcher-third baseman Joe Walsh, who played at Black Hawk College in Western Illinois.

Brian Wilhite, Sam Beutler and Keith Browning also played well in the tournament and Connor Bieda has caught nearly every inning of every game.

“I can’t say enough about Connor,” Ryder said. “He’s a mini-Tyler Gregory (workhorse catcher of a few years ago). He’s just a bulldog.”

Palatine will be at the Barrington Mid-Summer Classic this weekend.

Arlington looks for balance: Arlington had a mixed weekend with a 2-2 finish in the Wheaton tourney and then fell 10-1 to Northbrook in a Cook County game on Tuesday.

One of the highlights of the weekend was a 12-0 win in 5 innings over eventual tourney champion St. Charles. Matt Hendricks was the winner with 5 strikeouts and he also homered and had 2 doubles.

“He’s pitched very well for us,” said Arlington coach Lloyd Meyer. “He just got a changeup we’ve been working on and he struck out three or four guys with it.

“It shows you we can play with people but our pitching has to be more consistent.”

Meyer said Bobby Napoleon had only one rough inning in a 14-3 win over Milford (Mich). But 5 hit batters and 8 walks added up to disaster against Northbrook and bad starts hurt in the two tourney losses.

Erik Stoltzner has been hot with a pair of 3-hit games and Danny Hendricks homered at Wheaton.

“We have to pitch better and we haven’t fielded as well as we’re capable of,” Meyer said. “But we’ll be all right.”

A Brave outlook: Opposing teams have been impressed by what they’ve seen from Northbrook, which also has a sizable contingent of players with local ties. Wheeling graduates Matt Hart, who was 3-1 with 1 save in 17 appearances as an Illinois Wesleyan freshman, and Theo Yfantis returned to play for the Braves this summer.

Wheeling players Kalvin Thong, Nick Ricciardi, David Shapiro and Ryan Bendewald are also playing. Northbrook also has former Glenbrook North star Brett Synek, who was Oakton College’s MVP this spring after hitting .439 with a school-record 10 homers.