Schaumburg 13, Prospect 3

Schaumburg had enough of tough losses lately.

So the Saxons didn't mess around Wednesday afternoon when Prospect visited in a rematch of last year's Mid-Suburban League baseball championship game.

A 7-run sixth inning finished off a 13-3 victory for defending MSL champion and West leader Schaumburg (10-4, 5-2) and sent Prospect (9-7, 6-1) to its first East loss.

"We've been struggling the last few games," said Schaumburg senior George Kalousek of a 1-3 stretch. "We just couldn't close out games.

"We kept going and didn't give up. The last couple of games we just gave up and let the lead go."

Kalousek gave himself the lead for good at 3-2 in the bottom of the third when he blasted a 2-run homer -- his fourth -- through a strong wind to left-center.

And the right-handed Kalousek (3-0) gutted out 5-plus innings where he allowed only 1 earned run and had 5 strikeouts and 4 walks.

"George pitched a great game and stayed in there," said Schaumburg center fielder Steve Mahler, who had a 3-run triple, single and 2 walks. "He really picked us up when we didn't make plays and kept his head up."

Especially after Prospect took a 2-0 lead in the third on a two-out RBI single by Tim Scanlan (2-for-3) and an RBI single by Andrew Cardona after a dropped popup.

Schaumburg has relied a lot on power but manufactured most of its eighth double-figure scoring game.

Dave Compitello, in his second game leading off, doubled and came around for the first run on Dominick D'Agata's right-side grounder and wild pitch from junior Steve Latos (3-1).

An error on Dan Launhardt's sacrifice, Compitello's sacrifice and Mike Mistrata's right-side grounder led to 2 runs in the fourth.

"Everybody did their job," Kalousek said. "We got bunts down and we got runners over to score and scored them."

A walk and stolen base by Mahler set up Casey Braheny's two-out RBI single to center on an 0-2 pitch for a 6-2 lead in the fifth.

"We talked about not getting ourselves out, getting better at-bats and taking what teams give us," said Saxons coach Paul Groot.

"We were hitting line drives and hitting the ball on the ground, which is great," said Mahler, who went from leadoff to seventh in the lineup. "If we do that we're going to win every single game."

Prospect was out-hit just 9-7 but issued 8 walks, hit two batters and made 5 errors.

"We learned a lesson today," said Prospect coach Ross Giusti. "We've been playing average baseball the last two weeks and getting away with it.

"Today was a wakeup call. You can't just show up and expect to win."

Elk Grove 12, Hoffman 11: Colin Semler (3-for-5) had a two-out RBI single in the top of the eighth as Elk Grove (9-8, 4-3) rallied from a 12-6 deficit in the MSL crossover.

Starting pitcher Donny Duschinsky was 3-for-5 with a homer and double and came back in to get the final out with runners at first and second for the save. Kyle Pfister went 4 innings for the victory.

Matt St. John homered and Mike Kiviranta had 3 hits for Hoffman (6-7, 2-5) as it fell to 5-1 in 1-run games.

Palatine 12, Hersey 11: Brian Mnichowicz (3 RBI), Jeff Emerich (2 RBI) and Matt Wieber each had 3 hits as Palatine (4-13, 3-4) won the MSL crossover with 5 runs in the bottom of the seventh.

Pierson Curtis had 3 hits for Hersey (7-9, 1-6).

Conant 12, Wheeling 2: Austin Wright (2-1) allowed 1 hit in 5 innings and Mark Chereso had 3 RBI as Conant (6-6, 3-4) had 16 hits in the 6-inning MSL crossover win.

Wright had 8 strikeouts and the only Wheeling (2-8, 2-5) hit was Anthony Ricciardi's 2-run single with 2 outs in the fifth. Paul Roszyk and Otto Linderman had 2 RBI for Conant.

Fremd 6, BG 2: Jason Ford allowed 1 run in 6 innings, Ryan Shober drove in 2 runs and Nick Addison had an RBI single and 3 steals for Fremd (8-4, 4-3) in the MSL crossover. Zach Borenstein doubled for BG (6-6, 3-4).

Meadows 1, Barrington 1 (9 inn., susp.): The game was suspended because of darkness and will resume at 4:30 p.m. today at Barrington in the 10th inning.

Barrington's Tom Unak, Ryan Nolan and Tim Conroy combined to allow 3 hits. Meadows' Jon Carlson and Pat Conlin allowed 4 hits.

Meadows left fielder Gus Handler ran into the fence to rob Carlson of a homer in the top of the ninth.

Correction: Schaumburg starting pitcher Andy Brandt had 5 strikeouts and no walks Monday at Meadows.