Burny, St. Viator overcome Allain, Hersey
With the conference baseball season looming next week for both St. Viator and Hersey, the two teams had their annual battle for bragging rights in Arlington Heights on Friday.
St. Viator rapped out 11 hits and got a strong pitching performance from ace George Burny as the Lions beat the Huskies 8-4. St. Viator was able to overcome a pair of home runs by Hersey's Ryan Allain.
"Boy, that kid can hit," St. Viator coach Mike Manno said. "He is one of the best hitters we faced all year. We threw the kitchen sink at him and he still hit it hard."
But despite Allain's huge day at the plate, the Lions (10-2) came away with the victory.
"It is a bittersweet win for me," Manno said. "I have a great relationship with (Hersey coach) Bob Huber. I am happy that we won, but it is not a big rivalry for me."
Hersey plays Prospect on Monday, while St. Viator meets Nazareth Academy next Saturday to get their conference slates started.
St. Viator took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Matt Darling, who had 2 hits on the day, scored on a long fly to right by Dan Sullivan that was misplayed thanks to a brisk westerly wind.
With that wind cranking out to right field, Hersey's Ryan Allain lofted his first home run to give the Huskies a 2-1 lead after one inning.
"It was good to hit the ball hard after struggling the first couple of week," said Allain, who had 3 hits and 3 RBI. "I am just getting back into hitting again. And it just kind of flowed today."
St. Viator did a little hitting of its own in the the third to take the lead for good.
After Michael Ragauskis walked, Cole Kmet, Sullivan and Ben Dickey, who was playing his first game after injuring his hamstring, all singled. Those 3 hits turned into 2 runs and the Lions added another on Aaron Tres' perfectly executed suicide squeeze to make it 4-2.
"I felt pretty comfortable out there today," said Kmet, who had 2 hits and 2 RBI. "I just tried to stay back and put the ball in play."
Hersey (1-5-1) countered with a run in its half of the third when Allain scored on Nick Zouras' RBI single. But the Lions avoided a big inning when Tres threw out a runner stealing, and Burny struck out the final two batters of the inning.
Burny threw 6 innings for the Lions to improve his record to 3-0. He allowed 6 hits while striking out eight.
"I thought he threw well," Manno said. "He threw a lot of fastballs and he kept them low in the zone. It was one of his better outings of the year - besides Allain."
St. Viator score 3 runs over the next 2 innings to open up a comfortable 7-3 lead. Dan Sullivan, Darling and Kmet each drove in runs with singles.
"Coach said to move up in the box," said Sullivan, who had 2 hits and 2 RBI. "I just wanted to see the ball and let it get deep."
After Allain homered in the sixth, St. Viator got the run back when Ronnie Bailitz doubled home a run for his second hit of the game.
Shaun Falbo came on in the seventh for the Lions and threw just 5 pitches to pick up the save.
Huber said his team is slowly making strides.
"We are just unable to put it all together right now," Huber. "We have a guy or two playing well and we have no one backing them up right now. Then we get a couple of other guys hot. We just can't seem to get it all on the same page."
Prospect 12, Maine West 2 (6 inn): The host Knights hit it hard, especially Jake Cavaiani with a double and a triple as Prospect picked up a nonconference victory while improving their record 10-1.
The Knights had 10 hits, and five of them went for extra bases. They also managed to play error-free ball for starter Pasquale Atteo, who allowed 6 hits in a complete-game win.
Eric Outlaw had a home run for Maine West (4-5).
Rolling Meadows 10, Glenbrook South 0 (6 inn.): Terry Moran earned his first win of the season, limiting the Titans to 3 singles in a complete-game effort.
Moran, Jack O'Neill and Ryan Laboda each had 2 hits for Meadows (2-5). Sean O'Brien doubled and drove in 2 runs, and Laboda and Trent McNally also had 2 RBI apiece.
Moran struck out two and walked none.
Wheeling 7, Maine East 2: Wildcats starter Brian Lorey kept Maine East's bats under control, allowing just 2 hits as host Wheeling (5-4) picked up a nonconference win.
Jake Jordan doubled and finished 2-for-2 with 3 RBI, while Nathan Cooney and Christian Hubbard also had 2 hits for Wheeling.
Naperville Central 9, Hoffman Estates 8: Matt Roesch homered, Devon Willis hit a 3-run double and CJ Conway had 2 hits, including a 2-run single, but it wasn't enough as Naperville Central handed Hoffman Estates (6-1) its first loss in nonconference play.
Geneva 8, Conant 7: The host Cougars were in control most of the way before the Vikings scored 6 runs in the top of the sixth inning and managed to eke out a nonconference win. Anthony Forte, Jimmy McLaughlin and Jimmy Brady doubled for Conant (3-4-1). Matt Fauth, Forte and Brady had 2 hits apiece, and McLaughlin and Forte both drove in 2 runs.
Buffalo Grove 5, Glenbrook North 3: Adam Apel allowed 4 hits through 6 innings and Dan Levato pitched the last inning to earn a save as the visting Bison earned a nonconference win.
Leadoff man Joey Pinakidis finished 2-for-4 and drove in 3 of the runs for Buffalo Grove, and Justin Hasek and Levato had 1 RBI apiece.
Leyden 16, Proviso West 2 (6 inn.): Adrian Perez tripled as part of a 16-hit outburst while limiting Proviso West to 3 hits to pick up his first pitching victory of the season in a West Suburban crossover.
Carmel 6, Palatine 5: The visiting Corsairs denied the Pirates in nonconference play by scoring 4 runs in the top of the seventh inning. Mitch Dolen and Nick Orlando both had a pair of hits for Palatine (4-5).
Notre Dame 9, Fremd 4: The Vikings' Kaz Higuchi and Ethan Hajdukovic both doubled and finished with 2 hits, but the Vikings (5-4) had trouble slowing down a 12-hit attack in a nonconference road loss.