Fremd, Maine West bow out in regional final round
Fremd and Maine West saw their summer baseball seasons end in different ways Thursday in regional championship games of the Phil Lawler Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association tournament.
For Fremd, it was a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to Maine South on a bases-loaded hit by pitch in the bottom of the seventh inning in the Palatine regional. Maine West hoped to continue its run through some of the state’s powerhouses but lost to Lyons Township 10-0 in 6 innings in the Fenwick regional.
Zach Jones took the game-winning RBI for the fifth-seeded Hawks (16-7) as they advanced to next week’s Elite Eight for the second straight year. No. 7 Fremd (12-9) had taken a 2-1 lead in the fourth on an RBI single by Jon Escobar.
Maine West was the ninth seed at Fenwick and had beaten Class 4A spring state champion Oak Park-River Forest and 3A third-place finisher Nazareth en route to the title game. But the run was stopped by Lyons, which took second in 4A this spring after winning the title in 2011. Raul Anaya had 2 hits for the Warriors.
Andersen heads to UIC: Jack Andersen, who led Fremd to the Mid-Suburban West title this spring, is part of the six-player recruiting class for 2012-13 for UIC. The Daily Herald All-Area pick was 9-2 with a 1.90 ERA and 71 strikeouts in 70 innings and hit .305.
“We’re really excited about Andersen and what he can bring to this program,” UIC coach Mike Dee said in a release from the school. “The big thing for us is that he likes to compete.”
UIC lost to Valparaiso in the Horizon League championship game this spring.
American Legion tournaments start next week: Barrington will be hosting the Second Division tournament with games starting Tuesday at 11 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. Five teams, including Barrington, will be taking part in the double-elimination tourney with the championship scheduled for either 3:30 p.m. next Friday or 11 a.m. on Saturday, July 28.
The Cook County tournament is also next week with early-round games at higher-seeded sites and the championship game next Saturday at Recreation Park in Arlington Heights.