Barrington quickly gets back to it
A day after they clinched the Mid-Suburban West title, Barrington's baseball players showed no signs of slowly down.
The Broncos continued their dominance in the West by knocking off host Conant 10-3 Wednesday.
"We aren't done," Barrington coach Pat Wire said. "There is a hunger there to get things done. And that is how we came out to play today."
The Broncos banged out 11 hits, with Jake Petersen and Luke Johnson each getting 2 for Barrington (21-7, 12-1).
"We have had this game on our radar for a long time," Johnson said. "We knew that they have some very good talent on this team, it is fun to come in here today and play like we did today."
Petersen said that the Broncos have plenty of unfinished business.
"It is huge to keep the momentum going," Petersen said. "We had a nice streak going, but we lost last week. We wanted to get another one started."
Both teams loaded the bases in the first inning on a pair of walks and a single. But only Barrington could break through, thanks in part to a wild pitch that scored courtesy runner Colin Starvel.
Conant (15-12, 6-7) tied the game in the second. Ryan Roberts, who had walked to lead off the inning, came into score on a fielder's choice by Matt Fauth.
Barrington took the lead on its next at-bat on the strength of some heads up base running by Jake Coon. After he walked, Coon hustled his way to third on a sharp single to right by Anthony DeLaurentis. And when the throw to third went out of play, Coon was able to walk home for a 2-1 lead.
The Broncos finally used some hitting for their next run. Luke Johnson singled and was sacrificed to second by Jimmy Day, Johnson came on to score on Petersen's single.
Conant closed to 3-2 when Matt Fauth, who had doubled, scored on an error.
Barrington then broke the game open in the fifth, when the Broncos batted around and scored 5 runs.
Again the Broncos scored on a wild pitch and picked up another run on a fielder's choice by Johnson. Day had an RBI single, Petersen an RBI double and Day scored on the back end of a double steal.
"I was hoping for a little better effort from our team," Conant coach Derek Fivelson said. "You can't throw wild pitches with runners on third and not block them at the plate. But the good thing is that we get to play them again (Thursday).
Fauth and Anthony Forte each had 2 hits for Conant.
The game was delayed for about 20 minutes when home plate umpire Kevin Borophey was injured in the bottom of the fourth when he took a foul tip off his mask. He left on a cart, and the game continued after bases umpire Brian Donlan retrieved his equipment from his car in the parking lot.
Prospect 12, Rolling Meadows 2 (6 inn.): Mike Piotrowski delivered in grand fashion, coming up with a grand slam in the sixth inning to help the Knights to an MSL East triumph.
Trey Compton doubled and drove in 3 runs and Grant Miller had 2 hits for Prospect (22-5, 10-3), which remains tied for the MSL East lead with Elk Grove.
Justin Placko went the whole way on the mound for Prospect, allowing 2 hits with 5 strikeouts and 3 walks.
Elk Grove 1, Buffalo Grove 0: Grenadiers senior Christian Camacho managed to get the better of Bison freshman Jack Vaselaney in a terrific pitchers' duel as host Elk Grove (17-7, 10-3) kept a share of the Mid-Suburban East lead.
Camacho struck out 10, allowing 3 hits and 2 walks in his complete-game victory.
Vaselaney allowed 4 hits in 5 innings.
Taylor O'Connor drove in Brandon Post with a fielder's choice in the fifth inning.
Palatine 2, Hoffman Estates 0: Chris Refka took command for the host Pirates, tossing a complete-game 4-hit shutout with 9 strikeouts to power Palatine in MSL West action.
Andrew Breytenbach and Trace Holloway both drove in a run with the only hits of the day to lead Palatine.
Brandon Harris had 2 hits for Hoffman Estates, which couldn't take advantage of a well-pitched game by Jeff Mayes (6 IP, 5 hits, 5 strikeouts).
Fremd 8, Schaumburg 1: Fremd's Mack Rosman struck out seven and allowed only 2 hits in his 6 innings to help the Vikings win in MSL West play.
Troy Hajdukovic gave Fremd (13-13, 7-6) some breathing room with a 2-run homer in the seventh inning. Joe Uhrich also had a solo homer, Ethan Hajdukovic finished 3-for-3 with 3 RBI and Ian Bohn had a pair of hits.
Schaumburg dropped to 11-11-1 overall and 5-8 in the West.
Maine South 5, Maine West 0: Jake Riportella, Eric Outlaw and Howie Albrecht had the only hits for the host Warriors (13-11) in a Central Suburban League crossover.
Hersey 6, Wheeling 2: Nathan Cooney doubled and had a pair of hits for the Wildcats, but it was enough in MSL East play as the host Huskies (7-14-1, 6-8) prevailed behind 3 hits from Brett Harris and a well-pitched game from Matt Johnson (6 IP, 6 hits, 5 strikeouts).