Whitebloom drives determined Prospect past St. Charles East

Grant Whitebloom is scrappy.

He showed that this past winter while playing basketball for Prospect. And the junior demonstrated it again on the baseball diamond Tuesday.

Whitebloom's single in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted Prospect past St. Charles East 2-1 in Mt. Prospect.

Whitebloom, who had 3 hits on the day, felt that he had let his team down two innings earlier when he was doubled off second base. So when he had chance to turn things around for the Knights in the ninth, there was no hesitation.

Whitebloom drilled the first pitch he saw down the third base line to score a sliding Rich Baczek as the Knights beat both the Saints and darkness. With daylight fading, the game would have been called after Prospect's last at-bat.

"It felt good out there," Whitebloom said. "No one is giving us anything, so we just have to scrap our way through this season. It was a little frustration on that double play. But we just kept grinding."

After turning over its entire starting lineup, Prospect and coach Russ Giusti knew that grinding was the only way they would be successful this season. The Knights have done it successfully thus far, upping their record to 4-0.

"These guys have an edge to them," Giusti said. "It has been fun coming out here every day."

Giusti, whose Knights beat Huntley 1-0 on Monday, said that these early tight victories will help his team grow up quickly.

"It has been great being in some close ball games with some very good programs," Giusti said. "It kind of gives you a regional feel to it and championship-type setting."

Both St. Charles and Prospect played like it was near the end of the season and not just the second week. Both teams came up with huge plays to keep the game scoreless through five innings.

St. Charles (2-3) had runners on second and third with one out in the fifth. The Saints opted for a suicide squeeze play, but the ball was bunted up in the air a bit down the third base line. Prospect's Grant Zellmer dove for the ball, snatching it just before it hit, then threw to shortstop Travis Gates to complete the double play.

"I knew they were squeezing because they had tried it the pitch before," Zellmer said. "As soon as I saw him square, I charged in. I saw it up in the air and I knew I had an opportunity to catch it."

St. Charles returned the favor in their half of the fifth.

Prospect had runners on the corners with one out, when the Knights attempted their suicide squeeze. Saints pitcher Jimmy Dale fielded the bunt and quickly three home for the second out. He then struck out the final batter of the inning to end the threat.

Both teams tallied in the sixth.

Austin Gift doubled him John Dellostritto, who had singled with one out to give the Saints their run.

Prospect answered in a similar fashion as Ryan Howe doubled home Zellmer, who had singled.

St. Charles had its third 1-run game in a row. The Saints beat Lyons last Saturday 1-0 in 9 innings and lost 1-0 to Waubonsie Valley by the same score on Monday.

"We are getting some very good pitching," St. Charles coach Len Asquini said. "We are just making too many mistakes. We are not executing properly in a lot of situations and it is hurting us. But it is still early in the season, so we have time to fix that."

Hoffman Estates 20, Maine East 2 (5 inn.): Hard-hitting Hoffman Estates was at it again on Tuesday, pounding out 19 hits on host Maine East in nonconference play.

Luke Kulton doubled and tripled on his way to a 4-hit effort, and Dylan Bloom, Zach Dressler and Nate Magers had 3 hits apiece for the Hawks.

Ryan Davalos allowed 5 hits and struck out four without allowing a walk over 3 innings in earning the victory.

St. Viator 2, Deerfield 0: The host Lions got another terrific pitching effort from senior Kevin Napoleon, who tossed a complete-game 3-hitter with 7 strikeouts in a nonconference victory.

Casey Kmet and Mike O'Neill both finished 2-for-3 with a double and 1 RBI for the Lions (5-1).

Christian Liberty 16, Schaumburg Christian 4 (6 inn.): Chris Hoffman homered and also picked up the picking victory as the Chargers rolled. Aiden Miller doubled and tripled as part of a 17-hit effort by Christian Liberty.

Wheeling 14, Round Lake 1 (5 inn.): The visiting Wildcats (3-3) pounded out 14 hits in picking up a nonconference victory for junior starter Brian Maloney.

South Elgin 9, Buffalo Grove 6: The visiting Storm did all its scoring in the first 3 innings and held on to earn a nonconference win against the Bison.

Leyden 7, Maine West 4: Robert Wisniewski doubled, tripled and drove in 3 runs as Leyden rallied with 4 runs in the bottom of the sixth inning for a nonconference victory.

Jake Riportella had 3 hits and Sean Russell 2 for Maine West (1-3).