South Elgin living up to high expectations

That the South Elgin baseball team has hit the ground running isn't a surprise to shortstop Dane Toppel.

The Eastern Illinois signee figured with the number of players returning from last year's third-place finisher in Class 4A, the Storm stood a fair chance of getting off on the right foot and again competing with the best teams in Illinois.

In case there was any doubt, a 5-0 start punctuated by senior right-hander Ryan Weiss' perfect game against Glenbard East on Wednesday further cemented South Elgin's status as a rising power.

"Because of the returning players we have we know what we can be, so we're fairly confident about what's been happening so far," said Toppel, a slick fielder with 4 hits in his first 17 at-bats.

Toppel was South Elgin's leading hitter in 2014. He batted .408 (51-125) with 7 doubles and 19 RBI. The speedy leadoff man reached base at a .483 clip and led his team in stolen bases (38) and runs scored (36).

He is among the many regulars returning to the South Elgin lineup. Also back are seniors Nick Menken (306, 5 2B, 14 RBI), Kyle Hays (. 271, 6 2b, 21 RBI), Antonio Danesi (. 312, 21 RBI), Danny Asa (. 301, 5 2B, 12 RBI) and Jared Kramer (. 316, 12 RBI, 31 runs).

It's early, but that group is blending well with newcomers like junior catcher Mitch Butvilas.

"We're still trying to figure ourselves out as far as some roles that need to be filled and we're still finding the best style of play for this group of guys compared to last year," Toppel said.

Another similarity between the 2014 and 2015 Storm appears to be pitching, though no one can replace graduated dynamic all-state pitcher Ryan Nutof, a freshman at Michigan, where he is 2-3 with 36 strikeouts, 19 walks and a 3.74 ERA in 43.1 innings.

Max Keough, the team's No. 2 starter a year ago, is off to a 2-0 start after tossing a 2-hitter against Glenbard East on Tuesday. As a junior, Keough went 5-1 with 37 strikeouts, 17 walks and a 1.62 ERA in 39 innings.

He is joined in the rotation by Weiss, who pitched nearly 25 innings in 7 appearances last season when he finished with 18 strikeouts, 10 walks and a 3.69 ERA.

Senior Austin Sayre and Bartlett transfer Joey Roberson round out the starting rotation. Sayre last season posted a 0.51 ERA in 13⅔ innings over 7 appearances. Roberson, a transfer from Bartlett, made a name for himself last spring as a sophomore when he nearly pitched the Hawks past No. 1 seed Batavia in a regional semifinal.

"Our pitching has been strong," South Elgin coach Jim Kating said after Weiss' perfect game.

One, two, three: Elgin coach David Foerster notched a rare hat trick on Wednesday when he argued three separate calls in the same half-inning of a game at Streamwood.

To no avail, Foerster respectfully disputed, in order: a balk call against pitcher Brandon Stork that trimmed Elgin's lead to 2-1; a no-call after Foerster felt the Streamwood batter stepped across the plate and interfered with catcher Andrew Hardt as he was attempting to throw out a runner at second base; and a tag play at first base.

A pair of Elgin errors in the inning didn't help matters, but the Maroons nevertheless managed to escape the contentious inning tied and went on to win the game 3-2 in nine innings to improve to 4-6 overall, 1-1 in the Upstate Eight River.

Later, the Elgin coach complimented his players for staying the course when the calls weren't going there way.

"We made a few mistakes here and there, but we kept our composure and Brandon and Clay (White) kept their composure on the mound and kept us in it," Foerster said. "That's the biggest thing: being mentally tough. We've grown in that aspect in just the last couple of weeks."