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Baseball: Elgin completes sweep of Larkin

Elgin pitcher Brandon Stork wasn't at his sharpest in Monday's 6-4 win at rival Larkin, but he didn't have to be with shortstop Eddy Ramos hoovering every baseball in his area code.

Ramos set the tone with a diving catch of a popup down the left-field line to end the first inning, thereby saving a run.

The senior triggered a 6-4-3 double play with runners at the corners to end the third inning, and he finished off the fifth by fielding a bouncing ball to start another twin killing.

Larkin (2-5, 0-3) had already scored twice in the seventh inning and had the tying runs at first and second with two outs when a groundball was hit toward - who else? - Ramos. The third-year varsity infielder fielded the ball and calmly flipped to second for a forceout that helped Elgin (3-6, 3-0) complete a 3-game sweep of the weather-delayed Upstate Eight River series, which was originally scheduled to conclude last Thursday.

"It feels really good to help out," Ramos said of his glovework. "Stork really keeps us in games. It really pushes us to keep the defense strong."

Elgin committed an outfield error. Otherwise, the Maroons played a defensive game that bordered on dazzling.

"I thought going into the year that infield defense would be our strength," Elgin coach David Foerester said. "If you watched us before this series, you might not have said that. But in this series they really stepped up, Eddy especially at shortstop. Being a senior, he's one of our leaders and he really had a heck of a series. He's just a good kid. He works his butt off. Every time it's hit to him I feel pretty confident."

Due to multiple postponements both teams were again able to call on their starting pitchers from last Tuesday's series opener: Elgin's Stork and Larkin's Seth Morford.

Elgin got to Morford (1-2) for 3 runs in the top of the second inning. Catcher Hayden Gibson, batting eighth, singled to drive in the first run. Ramos delivered the big blow with a two-out, 2-run single.

The Maroons made it 4-0 in the fifth inning when Miguel Perez singled to right field to drive in Gibson.

Larkin's offense made a dent in the sixth inning with one crack of Kordell Thomas' bat. The senior first baseman lined a 1-0 Stork offering over the center-field fence to draw the Royals within 4-1.

"I barely felt it off my bat," Thomas said of his first varsity home run.

Larkin drew within 4-2 in the sixth when Elgin's right fielder dropped a flyball with two outs, but the Maroons responded with 2 insurance runs in the top of the seventh on RBI singles from Sanchez and Stork. The extra cushion proved to be critical because Larkin mounted a seventh-inning rally.

With two outs, Thomas singled to drive in Andy Bonnot and Mikey Rodriguez, slicing Elgin's lead to 6-4.

However, with the tying runs on first and second, Stork (2-2) induced a groundball to Ramos for the game-ending fielder's choice to notch his second complete-game victory of the series. He minimized the damage from 6 hits and 3 walks with 3 strikeouts and plenty of defensive help.

"I'll be the first one to say my stuff wasn't great," Stork said. "I had baserunners every inning, but I stuck with it and the defense was great. Eddy had a couple of double plays up the middle and the ball that saved a run in the first inning down the line. I was struggling hitting spots but the defense was there the whole time."

Larkin outhit the Maroons 11-9 to no avail.

"We put the ball in play much better today," Larkin coach Matt Esterino said. "We have to tip our cap. They outplayed us. Their shortstop had a phenomenal game. I thought he made 4 or 5 run-saving plays.

"Our approach was much better today. We're going to keep working. We're going to stay positive. We're going to keep grinding. We're going to keep getting better.

It's inning by inning now instead of game by game."

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