Piotrowski propels Prospect; Barrington clinches in MSL West

Prospect's Mike Piotrowski came into this season with high expectations for himself. But the the senior right fielder got off to a slow start at the plate.

"I was in a slump at the start of the season," Piotrowski said. "I was making contact, but you could just feel that during my at-bats three wasn't a whole lot there."

Piotrowski said he simplified some of his mechanics, and that seemed to turn things around for him.

"I changed my stance and my swing and tried to be short to the ball," Piotrowski said. "I also began to use all of the fields to hit to, and that seemed to do the trick."

Piotrowski showed some of those tricks Tuesday as Prospect cruised past Schaumburg 7-2 in Mount Prospect. Piotrowski had 3 hits and an RBI as the Knights (21-5, 9-3) remained tied with Elk Grove for the MSL East lead.

"I felt good up there today," Piotrowski said. "We were facing a good pitcher. I know we came out a little flat, so someone had to spark us."

Prospect coach Ross Giusti was happy with the victory, but said his team needed to come out with more fire.

"We did not come out with much energy at all," Giusti said. "That kid (Jack Bellinger) is a pretty good pitcher. I thought our approach in the first couple of innings was soft at the plate."

Behind Bellinger, Schaumburg (11-10-1, 5-7) took a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth. The Saxons were able to get on the scoreboard thanks to a RBI single by Tyler Teele.

Prospect walked its way to the lead in its half of the fourth.

The Knights had 6 walks and 2 singles that they parlayed into 5 runs in the inning. Piotrowski and Matt Nadler had RBI singles while Prospect scored 2 other runs on bases loaded walks and another on a wild pitch.

"Walks just kill you," Schaumburg coach Cal Seely said. "Especially against a good team like Prospect. You just can't make these kind of mistakes and get away with it."

Prospect used its bats to add a pair of runs in its next at-bat. Jack Courtney had an RBI single and then came home to score on Tyler Damasky's triple.

"We got some good timely hitting when we needed it," Giusti said. "And we opened the game up when we had to."

Prospect's Pasquale Atteo was sailing along through the first 6 innings. He allowed just 1 run and 4 hits while striking out four before he tired in the seventh.

"I found my rhythm early," said Atteo, who improved to 5-1 on the season. "My count got up there a bit and I got a little tired at the end."

Prospect also received some good news on the state tournament front. The Knights received the second seed in the Stevenson sectional; they will find out what regional they will be assigned to, as well as their first-round opponent, on Wednesday.

"Our focus has been one game at a time," Giusti said. "When you do things right and play the game hard, those type of things take care of themselves."

Barrington 9, Rolling Meadows 1: Barrington's baseball team earned victory No. 20 this spring and improved to 11-1 against Mid-Suburban League foes with a 9-1 victory over Rolling Meadows on Tuesday.

The victory clinched an MSL West championship for the Broncos and assured them of a spot in the MSL championship game.

Anthony DeLaurentis excelled on the mound for the Broncos (20-7), allowing 3 hits and striking out 10 in the 6 innings.

Mitch Pfeiffer finished 2-for-4 with a double and 2 runs scored. Casey Dodge and DeLaurentis both added 2 hits apiece for Barrington; one DeLaurentis' hits was a triple.

The Broncos broken open a close game with a 6-run effort in the fourth inning.

Wheeling 10, Hersey 4: Nathan Cooney doubled twice and also got the job done on the mound as the host Wildcats earned an MSL victory. Cooney allowed 9 hits and overcame 3 errors as Hersey did not score after the third inning.

Martin Falkiner had a double for Wheeling (10-14, 5-8), which amassed 12 hits.

Fremd 3, Buffalo Grove 2 (10 inn.): The host Bison scored once in the bottom of the seventh to send it to extra innings, then got the decisive run in the bottm of the 10th.

Ben Moran finished 3-for-5 with a double, Dan Levato had 2 hits and 1 RBI and Nate D'Onofrio also drove in a run for the Bison (13-15, 7-5) as Adam Apel earned a win with 3 scoreless relief innings, following Justin Hasek (7 IP, 2 ER, 10 strikeouts).

Ian Bohn doubled in a 2-for-4 effort at the plate for Fremd (12-13, 6-6), and Ethan Hajdukovic went 3-for-5 with an RBI for the Vikes, who got a strong start from Dan Pinderski (6 IP, 8 strikeouts, 1 run).

CL South 5, Conant 4: The Cougars' Anthony Forte had a once-in-a-lifetime game, yet it wasn't enough for a victory in nonconference play.

Forte hit 3 home runs and drove in all 4 Conant runs, but the Cougars (15-11) trailed the whole way after host Crystal Lake South (21-4) scored 3 runs in the first inning.

Jack Reiger had a double and Jimmy Brady had a single as Conant was limited to 5 hits by three Gators pitchers.

Michael Avella homered twice for Crystal Lake South.

Hoffman Estates 2, Palatine 1 (9 inn.): Ryan Ward was the man of the moment for host Hoffman Estates.

Ward pitched a complete-game extra-inning gem, striking out 10 and allowing 7 hits. He also drove in the winning run, taking a hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth.

The Hawks (11-11, 4-9) had tied it with a run in the sixth as Jeff Mayes walked, stole second, made third on a fielder's choice and scored on a sacrifice fly by Devin Wills.

Alexander Breytenbach pitched well for Palatine (10-17, 5-8), striking out five and allowing just 1 hit through 7 innings. Breytenbach and Matthew Lamm both had 2 hits for the Pirates.

Christian Liberty 4, Lake Forest Academy 0: One of the Chargers' 5 hits was a double from Aiden Miller as Christian Liberty got a win for Chris Hoffmann.

Glenbrook North 13, Maine West 1: Jake Riportella drove in the Warriors' run as Maine West dropped a Central Suburban North contest in Des Plaines.