Barrington powers past Prospect
On Monday in Mt. Prospect, Barrington banged the Knights out of Friday's Mid-Suburban League baseball title game.
Barrington had 10 different players come up with at least 1 hit as the Broncos rapped out 19 hits on their way to a16-11 victory.
The loss by Prospect (22-7, 11-4), coupled with Elk Grove's 4-2 victory over Palatine, guarantees Elk Grove a place in the MSL title game thanks to divisional tiebreakers. The Grenadiers, who are defending MSL champs, will host Barrington on Friday.
Prospect can still claim a share of the East title. The Knights will need to defeat Rolling Meadows on Tuesday in a game that was rained out twice last week.
Barrington (23-8, 14-2) blew the game open early, scoring 10 runs in the first 3 innings.
"Our hitting was great," said Barrington coach Pat Wire, who had 6 players with a multiple-hit games. "We knew with the wind blowing out, we had to jump out early. Hit it, lift it and see what happens."
The Broncos hit a pair of round-trippers to get their offense rolling early.
Jacob Chapman hit a blast to left-center in the first inning. Luke Johnson, who was on base thanks to a double when Chapman homered, later drilled a line drive down the left-field line for a 2-run homer of his own.
"I have been focusing on going away with the outer half," said Chapman, who had 3 hits in the game. "If it is there, the coaches said to drive it. And that is where he threw the ball."
Jimmy Day had a big day at the plate for the Broncos. He had 4 hits, all singles, and was hit by a pitch and drove in a pair of runs.
"I was trying to help us the get the W," Day said. "The only time I have had 4 hits in a game is in video games. It came at a big time for us today."
Patrick Dehnert had 3 hits for Barrington while Chapman, Casey Dodge and Colin Starvel each had 2 hits. Chapman knocked in 3 runs for the Broncos while Johnson, Day, Dehnert and Jake Coon each drove in a pair.
Barrington, which beat Elk Grove 9-6 on Friday, scored 25 runs against the top 2 teams in the MSL East in the past 4 days. It gives the Broncos momentum heading into the title game on Friday.
"It is great going back to the championship game," said Wire, whose team lost to Rolling Meadows in the MSL title game two years ago. "That has been one of the goals all season. The guys will be ready to play."
Prospect showed against why Mondays are the worst day of the week for the Knights this spring. They lost their fourth game of the season on a Monday, and did not play well in the process.
Despite 11 walks and 10 hits, the Knights found themselves on the short end of the score when they left 9 men on base.
"It is tough to overcome 10-0 out of the gate," Prospect coach Ross Giusti said. "Barrington came out and absolutely powered the ball and put us in a hole early. We are capable of scoring runs, but at some point, you have to step up and have some courage out there on the mound."
Luke Karz, Trey Compton and Mike Piotrowski each had 3 RBI for Prospect. Piotrowski has been clutch for Prospect in conference games this season, driving in 31 runs thus far.