Offense (and errors) carry the day in South Elgin win

South Elgin's baseball team outlasted host Elgin 12-8 in an Upstate Eight crossover Friday, but it wasn't pretty.

Though the Storm and Maroons hammered 22 hits between them, they also committed 13 combined errors, 7 by Elgin (2-3, 0-3), which dropped its third straight since a 2-0 start.

"Overall I'm pleased with the offense," Elgin coach David Foerster said. "Defensively, it's another story. I think we pride ourselves on being a good defensive team, but it didn't show up this week, that's for sure. We have to get that corrected."

South Elgin (3-2, 2-1) jumped to a 5-0 lead in the first inning against previously undefeated Jon Nelson (2-1) and led 8-1 midway through the third, but Elgin refused to let the Storm run away and hide.

The Maroons scored twice in the third inning and twice in the fourth to draw within 8-5, and they answered South Elgin's 3-run fifth with 2 in the sixth to stay within 11-7.

Elgin scored another run in the bottom of the seventh on a groundout by junior Clay White that trimmed the deficit to 12-8, but Storm reliever Ryan Weiss - fresh off his scoreless, 3-plus inning performance against Larkin earlier in the week - ended the game by inducing a line-drive and a groundout, both to second baseman Nick Menken.

South Elgin coach Jim Kating felt his team should have put the game out of reach earlier.

"That team can hit," he said of Elgin "When you give an opportunity to a team regardless of whoever it is and they hit the ball like that, they are going to be scrappy and come back and they did. We need to have an understanding that we need to keep on adding runs and adding runs instead of just sitting back after we score some early runs. That's what I'm upset with.

"I'm also upset with our demeanor. It's not focused and it's not where it's supposed to be."

Four South Elgin pitchers allowed 12 hits, issued 4 walks and struck a batter. Chase Lazopoulos earned the win in his first varsity start. The junior held the Maroons to 3 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits, walked 1 and struck out 5 in 3 innings.

"I felt confident but I was a little nervous in the beginning," Lazopoulos said. "I was trying to throw strikes and they were hitting the ball pretty decently throughout the game. Our defense was a little shaky, but our offense hit the ball well."

No. 2 hitter Nick Menken led the Storm offense with 3 hits in 5 at-bats. The junior drove in 4 runs, including a 2-run, third-inning single.

Valadez went 4-for-5 for Elgin and scored twice to break out of a personal slump.

"I've been struggling so far this year, but I felt better in batting practice," Valadez said. "I felt different. I had a better swing, more aggressive."