Baseball: Elgin tops Larkin again behind Ramos gem
One look from Elgin pitcher Eddy Ramos convinced coach David Foerster the senior could finish Thursday's 3-1 victory over crosstown rival Larkin.
Foerster made a trip to the mound in the top of the seventh inning after Ramos put the tying runs aboard by beaning leadoff hitter Kordell Thomas and issuing a one-out walk to Cy Kerber.
"Once I saw his eyes, the look he had, I knew I wasn't taking him out," Foerster said of the 5-foot-8, 150-pound senior right-hander. "He was pretty confident. It was a tough spot, but he wanted the ball. He wanted to finish it."
Ramos dug deep to strike out the next hitter looking on 3 pitches. He then induced an infield popup off the bat of pinch hitter Kobe Mounivong to complete a 2-hitter.
"I felt good coming into the game. I was really prepared to play," said Ramos, who walked a pair and struck out 8. "My original plan was to hit the outside corner with fastballs and I did a good job of that, I feel. The curveball really helped me a lot as well. I felt really confident."
The Game 2 victory clinched the 3-game Upstate Eight River series in favor of Elgin (2-6, 2-0), which won the opener 4-1 on Tuesday at Trout Park.
Swept by Larkin last season, the Maroons will try to return the favor when the series concludes Monday at Larkin at 4:30 p.m.
"It feels amazing. It sparks our team," said Elgin second baseman Rigoberto Sanchez, who went 2-for-3 and drove in a run. "This is our rival. For us to win 2 out of 3 - I want to win more games. I want to keep this up against other teams like Batavia and St. Charles North. We can battle with them."
Larkin senior Zach Edgar (1-1) pitched well enough to win. The right-hander allowed 8 hits and 2 walks and struck out 3 in 6 innings. Of Elgin's 3 runs, 2 were unearned thanks to 3 Larkin errors.
The youth-infused Larkin batting order, which on Thursday included four sophomores and two juniors, managed only 5 baserunners.
"We definitely need to communicate and put the ball in play more," Edgar said. "We're guessing too much up there, letting good pitches go by, looking too much."
Larkin's four sophomores combined went 0-for-8 with 6 strikeouts.
"I think we're pitching well enough to win these games, but I think our younger guys are pressing a bit and getting tutored as to what it takes to hit at the varsity level," Larkin coach Matt Esterino said. "The effort is there. I think we have to sharpen our baseball IQ because we've missed a few signs, which we cannot afford to do. But it came down to they put the ball in play more than we did."
Ramos got Elgin on the board with a third-inning RBI double and Sanchez followed with a run-scoring single one out later to make it 2-0.
Larkin halved the lead in the fourth inning when Elgin threw wildly to first base on Seth Morford's slow roller past the mound. Ramos ended that threat with a curveball for a strikeout.
The Maroons added an insurance run in the fifth. JC Fortmann and Sanchez opened the inning with singles to put runners at the corners. Brandon Stork followed with a sacrifice fly to make it a 3-1 Elgin lead.
Michael Rodriguez and Thomas had the only hits for Larkin (2-4, 0-2).
Sophomore Payton Reynolds went 3-for-3 for Elgin batting out of the six hole.