Baseball / Northwest roundup

Hoffman Estates 6, St. Charles East 1: Sophomore pitcher Ryan Ward allowed 9 hits but worked out of trouble effectively as No. 16 seed Hoffman Estates committed only 1 error to prevail at home and spring a 6-1 upset on No. 2 seed St. Charles East in Class 4A regional semifinal baseball action Wednesday.

Doug Rathje went 2-for-3 with a solo homer (the first of his career), Keegan Mugerditchian had a double and drove in 2 runs and Mid-Suburban West player of the year Ethan Bloom finished 3-for-4 with 1 RBI for the Hawks.

Hoffman Estates scored 4 runs in the first inning and added insurance runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

Ward got the final out by striking out Saints cleanup hitter Ben Smith

The Hawks (14-16-1) will meet the winner of Thursday's Wheaton North/South Elgin game in Saturday's 11 a.m. regional final at Hoffman Estates.

West Chicago 2, Schaumburg 0: The Mid-Suburban West co-champs ran into a hot pitcher, Fred Gosbeth, and saw their season come to an end in the Lake Park regional.

Gosbeth struck out four and allowed just 1 hit.

West Chicago (17-17) scored 1 run in the sixth and 1 more in the seventh as Brad Schwind took the loss despite a strong start (6⅔ inning, 7 hits, 9 strikeouts).

Barrington 8, Crystal Lake South 3:

Jake Coon and Daniel Kubiuk both doubled as Barrington produced 12 hits to earn a spot in the regional final at Crystal Lake South.

Barrington (27-10) had 12 hits and scored 3 runs in the fourth and 4 more in the fifth to take control.

Libertyville 11, Hersey 5: Hunter Van Wagner hit a pair of solo homers and Conor Simpson doubled and tripled as the regional host and top seed in the Glenbrook South sectional prevailed.

Eric Lebahn doubled and finished 3-for-4 with 1 RBI for No. 16 seed Hersey. Joe Silva and Ryan Allain had 2 hits apiece for the Huskies (18-17-1).

The Wildcats will meet Thursday's Prospect-Highland Park winner in Saturday's regional final.

Elk Grove 10, Lake View 0 (5 inn.): Peter Arbov tripled and six others in Elk Grove's lineup had doubles as the Grenadiers made quick work of Lake View.

Matt Wary, Adam O'Malley, Brandon Post, Christian Camacho and Johnny Assimakopoulos each finished with 2 hits for the MSL champs, who improved to 22-10.

Arbov (4 IP, 2 hits, 4 strikeouts) and Ty Lawson (1 IP) shared in the shutout for the Grens.

Elk Grove, the No. 3 seed in the Loyola sectional, meets the winner of Thursday's Loyola-Lane Tech contest in Saturday's 11 a.m. regional final at Elk Grove.

Maine West 3, Niles North 1: Junior Torio and Matt Swanson combined on a 5-hitter as the Warriors (17-16) advanced to the Von Steuben regional final with a victory at Northeastern University.

Sean Russell went 2-for-2 and drove in a run for Maine West, which also got a 2-hit effort from Jake Riportella.

Torio allowed 4 runs in 5 innings, while Swanson struck out three and allowed 1 hits in 2 innings.

Eight seed Maine West meets the Loyola sectional's No. 1 seed, Maine South, in Saturday's 11 a.m. regional final at Northeastern.