Progress for Rolling Meadows despite setback
With all his baseball experience, Rolling Meadows coach Jim Lindeman knows that even a loss can spell good things for a team.
And after his Mustangs dropped a 3-2 decision Tuesday to Niles West on a cold, blustery day in Rolling Meadows, Lindeman was encouraged with his team's play.
"This was our best game of the year," Lindeman said. "We did a real nice job executing for our 2 runs, and I thought we hit the ball very well. A lot of balls got hung up in the wind. So I was happy with our effort today."
Rolling Meadows (1-4) played a bit of small ball and it paid of in the second for the Mustangs.
Ryan Differding led off with a double and Ryan Laboda followed with a walk. The duo moved up one base on an excellent sacrifice bunt by Trent McNally.
Hank Holm, who was a bit late to the field and missed batting practice, came up next.
"I got stuck in school and got out here late," Holm said. "I looked down at coach Lindeman and I was shocked when he flashed me a bunt sign. I wasn't sure if he had confidence in me, but it was nice to get it down and get a run."
Holm's sweet suicide squeeze, gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead and Laboda moved up to third on the play. He then scored on Luka Pavlakis' RBI single to make it 2-0.
Differding got out of a jam in the Niles West first, when his team turned a double play. Differding then kept the Wolves (4-2) at bay through the next 3 innings. The junior, who struggled in his first outing a week ago, retired 11 batters in a row as the Mustangs led 2-0 after 4.
But after sailing along, Differding walked three in the fifth with one out. He got a Niles West batter to hit into a force play at the plate for the second out. But Niles West's Tyler Stegich worked the count full and then delivered a 2-run single to right to tie the game.
With runners on the corners and two outs, Differding had Stegich picked off of first. But when the runner from third broke home, the throw to the plate went wild, giving Niles West the eventual game-winning run.
"It was a rough inning for me," said Differding, who went 6 innings and allowed just 2 hits while striking out six and walking four. "But this was a very good outing for me. I had control of my pitches and got some solid defense behind me."
Rolling Meadows, which left 6 runners on base and 5 in scoring position, threatened just one time after giving up the lead.
Jack O'Neil doubled with one out in the fifth. After a two-out walk, the Mustangs had runners on first and second, but Wolves pitcher Blake Kons got a strikeout to end the threat. Kons retired the last 7 Meadows batters.
"I thought Ryan pitched a great game," Lindeman said. "He had one inning where he walked a couple of guys. But that's all they had. We had a couple of mistakes and that's how they scored all their runs."
Hoffman Estates 2, York 1: Jeff Mayes helped keep Hoffman Estates unbeaten a 5-0, tossing a complete game as the Hawks added a nonconference victory.
Mayes scattered 6 hits and walked one with 3 strikeouts, and York's only run scored on a Hoffman Estates error.
The Hawks scored both their runs in the fourth inning, when Kevin Howell walked, moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Mayes and took third on a single by Matt Roesch. Devon Willis then knocked in a run with a groundball to short, and CJ Conway drove in the eventual winning run with a line drive to left.
Buffalo Grove 7, Maine West 6: The host Bison did all their scoring in the first two innings, then managed to hold off Maine West for a nonconference victory.
Justin Hasek doubled and drove in 3 runs for Buffalo Grove, while Joey Pinakidis went 2-for-3 and scored twice.
Nate D'Onofrio went the distance for the Bison; 3 of the runs he allowed were unearned.
Crosley Duckmann had 2 of the 6 hits generated by Maine West.
Barrington 10, Dundee-Crown 4: The host Broncos made the most of their 9 hits, taking advantage of 6 D-C errors to pick up a nonconference victory and improve to 7-4.
Jake Coon went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI for Barrington, and Anthony DeLaurentis doubled and drove in 2.
DeLaurentis earned the decision after allowing just 1 unearned run through 6 innings, while Jake Petersen tripled and finished 2-for-4 at the plate.
Elk Grove 6, Wheaton North 1: Chuck Fleming went 2-for-3 with a double and 3 RBI to help power the host Grens in nonconference play.
Jonathan Maday pitched 5⅔ innings, striking out eight with 1 walk to earn a victory.
Brandon Post doubled and drove in a run, Sean Fege had 2 hits and Matt Wary stole 2 bases for Elk Grove.
Christian Liberty 10, IMSA 0 (5 inn.): Junior Chris Hoffman tossed a 1-hitter over 5 innings and also had a double as the host Chargers rolled in nonconference play.