Winds of fate favor Hoffman Estates
On a cold, windy night the balls were flying around at Hoffman Estates' baseball field.
In the end, enough of them fell favorably for the Hawks to preserve a perfect start to the season after an 8-7 victory over Dundee-Crown on Wednesday.
Dundee Crown scored 4 runs in the first inning, with two doubles and three hard singles, and seemed to have pitcher Ryan Ward on the ropes. But Ward went on to hold Dundee Crown scoreless for the next 5 innings, while Hoffman came back and regained the lead with some hard hits of its own.
The Hawks scored twice in the first with doubles by Matt Roesch and C.J. Conway, got 2 more in the third with a long homer from Devon Willis, and 4 in the fourth with doubles by Ward, Brandon Harris and Jeff Mayes.
With one out in the seventh, Dundee Crown had three doubles of its own to pull within a run. But reliever Ryan Davalos finished it for Ward, getting the last two outs to save the win for Hoffman Estates (6-0).
Fremd 3, New Trier 2: Fremd senior Mack Rosman struck out nine in 6 innings to help the visiting Vikings top New Trier 3-2 on Wednesday in nonconference play.
Ian Bohn pitched 1 scoreless inning to get a save.
Tom Austin went 2-for-4 with a double and Ethan Hajdukovic also had 2 hits for the Vikings (5-3), while Cody Patenaude and Danny Hermetet both drove in 1 run.
St. Viator 13, IC Catholic Prep 5: Matt Darling went 3-for-3 with 2 doubles and a steal as the host Lions had 11 hits and drew 7 walks in a nonconference triumph.
Dan Sullivan and Matt Levin both went 2-for-2 for St. Viator (9-2) as starter Cole Kmet got the win after tossing 4 scoreless innings.
Notre Dame 4, Buffalo Grove 0: Justin Hasek and Trey Cervantes had the only hits for the visiting Bison in nonconference play. Hasek started for BG, allowing 3 hits and 2 earned runs in 5 innings.
Palatine 5, Solorio Academy 1: Trace Holloway and Charlie Van Dyke both hit safely twice as the host Pirates (4-4) scored once in each of the first four innings to pick up a nonconference win. Ryan Anderson struck out seven in 6 innings to earn the win.
Schaumburg 5, Glenbrook South 2: Jack Bellinger tossed a complete game for the hosts Saxons, allowing 4 hits to go with 4 strikeouts and 2 walks in nonconference play. Tyler Teele drove in a pair of runs as Schaumburg made the most of its 5 hits.
Niles North 7, Rolling Meadows 2: The Mustangs (1-5) actually out-hit the host Vikings 6-5 but couldn't overcome 6 errors in a nonconference loss. Mark Dillon struck out seven and allowed 2 earned runs in 5⅔ innings for Rolling Meadows, and Brett Gibson had 2 hits.