Schaumburg outslugs Bartlett

The first inning of Thursday's Class 4A Schaumburg baseball regional between the host No. 8 Saxons and No. 9 Bartlett set the tone for the final result.

Both teams loaded the bases with no outs in their half of the opening frame, but it was Schaumburg that produced a 3-1 lead that eventually led to an 8-5 victory. The Saxons (19-13-1) advance to Saturday's title game against top-seeded St. Charles North (31-4).

Winning pitcher Jack Bellinger walked a pair of batters and hit one, allowed one hit and an RBI fielder's choice from losing pitcher Tripp Paris, who added a second RBI in the game, in the top of the first inning. Schaumburg took advantage of a pair of defensive miscues in the bottom half, and Tyler Teele hit a 2-run single and Tommy Larsen an RBI single.

"I think we thrive off of those defensive stops, and after getting out of that top of the first inning proved that," Saxons coach Cal Seely said. "I think that our offense fed off of that."

The Saxons outhit the Hawks (16-18) 8-7 with Teele leading the way. He went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and 5 RBI.

Teele's biggest hit came in the bottom of the fourth when his 2-run double down the left-field line capped a 4-run frame after Bartlett had tied the game at 3-3 in the top of the fourth. All 4 runs were unearned thanks to a Bartlett error to start the frame, and a questionable call kept the inning alive for 3 additional runs.

"I was just relaxed at the plate," Teele said. "I was getting mostly fastballs and was able to just get good swings on them."

Alex Kiszkowski was 2-for-4, Jacob Rintz scored 3 runs and Andrew Ralston drove in a run for the Saxons.

Bellinger went 5⅓ innings allowing 5 runs (4 earned) off 7 hits, 3 walks and 2 hit batters while striking out 9. Christian Poulsen got a save allowing a walk and striking out 1 in 1⅔ innings of work.

Paris battled through some cramping late in the game to go 5⅓ innings allowing 8 runs (3 earned) off 7 hits, 3 walks and a hit batter while tallying 5 strikeouts. A pair of Bartlett's 6 seniors led at the plate as Myles Zilinsky went 2-for-3 with a solo home run and Cory Krolikowski 2-for-4 with an RBI.

"We came out and did a lot of good things," Hawks coach Chris Pemberton said. "We had some strong performances at the plate and Tripp gave a gutsy effort on the mound. We just made a few mistakes that came back to haunt us."

Teele said being confident in the field and hitting are the keys to approaching the title game, and Seely echoed that.

"Just play," Seely said. "This is why we do this. These are the toughest kids I know, and they don't back down based on seeding."