The best in a test as Barrington visits Elk Grove
It will be aces up when Barrington faces Elk Grove for the Mid-Suburban League baseball championship at 4:30 p.m. Friday at Elk Grove.
In this matchup of divisional champions, both will send their best players to the hill. Barrington pitcher Anthony Delaurentis, who was voted the MVP of the West Division, will face off against Christian Camacho of Elk Grove, who received the same honor in the East.
"It should be a great matchup," said Elk Grove coach Terry Beyna, whose team is returning to defend its crown as MSL champs after defeating Schaumburg last year. "The kids have played well all year. And we have gotten great pitching from Christian."
Camacho, who is a junior and played second base last year for the Grens, has done it all this season for his team as a junior. He has pitched, where he is 8-2 on the season with an ERA of 2.10, striking out 86 in 70 innings. He also has 3 saves.
He began the season at second base, but moved to short to help shore up the defense. He also leads off for Elk Grove (20-8) and is batting .389 in conference play.
Delaurentis was an all-area pitcher for Barrington (23-8) last year, when the Broncos tied Schaumburg for the West title. But Barrington missed out on the MSL title game because of tiebreakers.
Delaurentis is 6-1 for the Broncos with an ERA of 1.47. He has 47 strikeouts in just over 47 innings pitched. He also picked up his first save of the season when he came on in relief last week to shut the door in 9-6 victory over Elk Grove.
Delaurentis has also been a star at the plate as well. He leads the team with 7 homers and is batting .392 with 30 RBI.
"I can't say enough on how well he has played for us this year," Barrington coach Pat Wire said. "He has done everything we have asked him to do."
While Elk Grove is making its second straight appearance in the title game, it will be a second appearance in three years for the Broncos. In its most recent appearance, Barrington fell to Rolling Meadows.
The Broncos have three players from that team that were sophomore participants in the title game. Jake Coon, Mitch Pfeiffer and Jake Petersen all played a huge part in the West Division title won by Barrington in 2013.
"It really has been some unfinished business for them," said Wire, whose team was 14-2 in conference play this year.
"They have been leaders on and off the field for us. They really wanted to get back to this game."
The Broncos will also be counting on the play of Jimmy Day, Luke Johnson, Casey Dodge and Jake Zyzda, all of whom were named to the all-conference team to go with Coon, Pfeiffer, Petersen and Delaurentis.
Elk Grove is still smarting from that loss to Barrington just 7 days ago. But the Grens, who finished 12-4 in the East, showed that comeback spirit, rallying from an early 8-0 deficit to get as close as 8-6.
That's when Barrington went to Delaurentis, giving the Grens an early preview of what to expect from the Barrington pitcher.
"They have not seen our No. 1 or 2 pitcher yet," Beyna said. "We need to slow them down offensively and get some quality at-bats. We need to start sharp and play a good game."
The Grens will be counting on holdovers from last year's championship team in Brandon Post and Matt Wary. Jack McEnroe has been on fire at the plate the past few weeks for Elk Grove and should figure to continue to make noise at the plate."