Baseball: South Elgin stays alive with win at Glenbard East
South Elgin gave itself a chance at another chance.
Facing elimination from contention for the Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division championship, the Storm responded with Wednesday's 4-1 baseball victory over league-leading Glenbard East in Lombard.
By salvaging the final game of the three-game series, South Elgin (18-8, 15-4) stays alive for the Valley title. Glenbard East (24-8, 17-3), however, remains a game ahead in the loss column with time running short.
"We stayed within ourselves and went out and kept fighting," said Storm complete-game winning pitcher Joe Roberson. "We wanted to come out here and fight and do whatever it took to win."
The Rams need to win one of their final two games - Thursday and Friday against Geneva and St. Charles North - to clinch a share of the title. A win in both clinches the outright championship.
Like Wednesday, South Elgin simply needs to keep winning. The Storm finishes a suspended game against Batavia on Thursday before closing the UEC slate against Geneva and West Chicago.
"It was huge today because we didn't want to leave getting swept," said Storm center fielder Kevin Barry, who drove in 3 runs with doubles in the fifth and seventh inning. "This was a good bounce-back game."
Glenbard East, which outscored South Elgin 11-2 in the first two games, took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on Nathan Bertuca's RBI single. Rams starter Joey Moore kept the score 1-0 into the fifth when South Elgin tied it on Barry's first double.
After Roberson, who struck out nine in a 3-hitter, sent down the Rams in order in the sixth, the Storm broke the tie with 3 runs in the seventh. Justin Howard singled in the go-ahead run, leading to Barry's 2-run double.
"It would have been nice to get it done here, but we'll keep working at it," said Rams coach Joel Pelland. "We knew it was going to be a fight, and our guys were tough. Now we've got to try again tomorrow."
Roberson retired the final eight batters he faced, including two with the bases loaded and one out in the fifth. Shortstop Kyle Alvarado knocked down a liner and threw out a runner at the plate to help the Storm emerge from the jam unscathed.
"I'm very proud of how they bounced back after the two games," said Storm coach Jim Kating. "Hopefully we got the monkey off our back and we'll start playing some Storm baseball the way we're supposed to."
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