Scouting the MSL baseball championship game
Scouting the MSL baseball championship game
Barrington (20-10, 13-3) vs. Rolling Meadows (17-9-1, 14-2)
Where: Nelson Sports Complex, 3900 Owl Drive, Rolling Meadows
When: 4:30 p.m. Friday
History: Rolling Meadows is advancing to the title game for the first time since 2009, when the Mustangs beat Fremd 5-0. Rolling Meadows coach Jim Lindeman is 1-1 in the title game, losing to Schaumburg the previous year. Barrington has not won the MSL title since 2005. The two teams met just eight days ago, with Rolling Meadows winning 10-4. Mustangs catcher Mike Dolan homered and had 5 RBI in the game while Dan Hendrickson had 3 hits and Alex Niecikowski had 2 hits. Mitch Pfeiffer and Jake Petersen each doubled for Barrington in game, which both coaches downplayed since Barrington had clinched the West title the previous day.
Starting pitchers: Barrington will go with Wyatt Trautwein (5-2, 3.48 ERA, 60 strikeouts in 55 innings pitched) Rolling Meadows will start Matt Dennis (7-0, 1.51 ERA, 85 strikeouts in 56 innings pitched).
Barrington players to watch: Catcher Ryan Lidge (.417, 8 HR, 35 RBI), RF Mitch Pfeiffer (.406, 0 HR, 11 RBI, 33 R), CF Scott Nelson (.379, 0 HR, 25 RBI),LF Macray Poidomani (.267, 1 HR, 18 RBI), DH Justin Dragosz (.273, 3 HR, 15 RBI), SS Dylan Ridge (.273, 0 HR, 11 RBI, 29 R), 1B Jake Coon (.345, 1 HR, 11 RBI), 2B Joey Sciaccotta (.306, 0 HR, 5 RBI), INF Jake Petersen (.312, 0 HR, 9 RBI),3B Dylan Balogh (.259, 0 HR, 10 RBI).
Rolling Meadows players to watch: Alex Niecikowski (.364, 1 HR, 15 RBI), Mike Dolan (.437, 5 HR, 33 RBI), Zach Schurtz (.221, 0 HR, 12 RBI), Matt Dennis (.267, 3 HR, 15 RBI), Erik Schurtz (.240, 0 HR, 7 RBI), John Burkiewicz (.267, 2 HR, 17 RBI), Mickey Wazorick (.353, 2 HR, 24 RBI), Dan Hendrickson (.384, 1 HR, 26 RBI), Dan Hendricks (.302, 2 HR, 12 RBI).
Barrington update: The Broncos got off to a slow start, winning just 3 of their first 10 games. Since that time, they are 17-3. They are hitting .325 as a team with 13 homers and 62 extra base hits and on-base percentage of .413. On the mound they have an ERA of 3.58 while striking out 159 batters in 200 innings.
Rolling Meadows update: At one time, the Mustangs were 8-8-1, but have since won 9 of 10 games. They are hitting .307 as a team with 16 homers and 83 extra base hits and an on base percentage of .402. Their pitching has been stellar of late and includes a no-hitter by Jack Milas and a 3-hit shutout by Wazorick in the last week. The team has an ERA of .285 and has 164 strikeouts in 179 innings.
In the dugout:
Barrington coach Pat Wire (1st year): “We really follow a formula that I have been preaching since last summer, which is each and every opportunity we come to the plate, whether we play defense or run the bases; we are going to have a plan. Our job is to anticipate action. We want to outhustle our opponents. And our third plan is to try to chase the starting pitcher out of the game. If we can do those three things, we tend to win baseball games. And the kids have bought into this and that is why we are playing so well. We look forward to playing Rolling Meadows again. When we played them last time, were coming off an epic stretch that we needed to win to win the MSL West.
Rolling Meadows coach Jim Lindeman (13th year): “We been swinging the bat well and we’re looking forward to Friday. We were up and down early in the season and not playing good defense and not swinging the bat well. When we catch the ball, we are a pretty good ballclub. We have had good pitching, especially in the last couple of weeks. We have been playing with good intensity and the kids have been coming to play hard every day. We look forward to playing a tough Barrington team. The last game we played was misleading. They had clinched the West while we still had motivation to win the East.”
— Dick Quagliano