Baseball: Bellinger rings up a needed win for Schaumburg

Schaumburg's Jack Bellinger was dominant in shutting down Fremd's baseball team 3-0 Wednesday in Schaumburg.

Bellinger kept Fremd off balance throughout the game, striking out 10 while allowing just 2 hits. He threw 104 pitches, 67 for strikes, while pitching a complete game.

“I felt comfortable out there,” said Bellinger, who improved to 3-1. “My stuff was there today and I felt real good. I made good pitches when I had to.”

Bellinger did not allow a hit through the first 4 innings, and only two Fremd runners reached scoring position. Both times Bellinger settled down to keep the Vikings off the scoreboard.

“That is what he has been doing for us for three years,” Schaumburg Cal Seely said. “Every time he walks out there, you know we have a very good chance of wining.”

Seely and Schaumburg (7-4, 1-1) needed that out of the Illinois State-bound Bellinger.

After losing to Fremd 4-3 on Monday, the Saxons could ill afford to be 0-2 in the MSL West, especially with games with Barrington looming next week.

“He has gone 6 or 7 innings in every start this year,” Seely said. “We have all the confidence in the world in him.”

Schaumburg gave Bellinger the only run he needed in the first inning when Jacob Rintz, who had walked to lead off, came around to score on an infield error on a ball hit by Parker Nolan.

Thanks to the strong pitching by Eric Bennes, Fremd (3-3, 1-1) trailed just 1-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth. That's when the Saxons gave Bellinger some insurance, sending eight batters to the plate and scoring a pair of runs.

Andrew Ralston walked, stole second and was bunted over to third by Tommy Larsen. Nolan followed with a single to right to score Ralston.

A walk to Tyler Fredrickson and a bunt single by Bellinger loaded the bases. Robbie Schweigert followed with a single, driving in pinch runner Kevin Carpenter, and Bellinger had his cushion.

“After Monday's loss we had a discussion yesterday at practice about executing,” Seely said. “We practiced bunting and when it came down to it, we were able to put one down and put us in a position to score.”

Fremd coach Chris Piggott was not happy with the type of swings his team took at the plate.

“Their pitcher did a nice job of keeping us off balance,” Piggott said. “We have to do a better job of taking advantage of fastballs when we get them. We swung and missed or we swung and fouled a lot of them off. The difference in the game is they executed when it mattered.”