Baseball: Buffalo Grove comes back to down South Elgin
Call it a nice send-off to Florida.
Playing its season opener, Buffalo Grove (1-0) rallied from a 3-run deficit for a 7-4 nonconference baseball triumph over South Elgin (0-2) Friday afternoon in South Elgin.
"We'll get a better night's sleep tonight and roll into the trip with a little more of a positive attitude," said Bison coach Tim Miller, whose team departs Saturday for its 5-game spring break trip to Florida. "We've got a JV game tomorrow and a varsity game Sunday in Tampa."
Buffalo Grove grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the first without the benefit of a base hit against junior Storm starting pitcher Nate Gomez. John Carpinelli coaxed a 1-out walk, advanced to third on an infield error and scored on a successful double steal.
South Elgin answered with a 2-run bottom half of the opening frame. Bryant Diel led off with a single, took second on a balk and scored on an errant throw to third following a wild pitch. Kevin Barry's RBI groundout gave the Storm a 2-1 lead.
"We showed some resolve there getting that run back plus one," said Storm coach Jim Kating.
The Storm added 2 more runs in the second without hitting the ball out of the infield. Nate Smith coaxed a leadoff walk and eventually came across on a wild pitch. Jack Watkins, who reached on a hit batsman, also scored on a throwing error to make it 4-1.
Buffalo Grove narrowed the deficit to 4-2 on Carpinelli's third-inning solo home run.
"Last year, I struggled a little hitting-wise," admitted Carpinelli. "I felt like I got it pretty good but I was still surprised it went out."
The Bison took the lead for good with a 3-run fourth that featured back-to-back walks to Tyler Rundquist and Mike Gren, Zach Fricke's infield single, a 2-run infield error and a catcher's interference call that forced in the go-ahead run with the bases loaded.
"That was our first time on a baseball field (this season)," said Miller. "You're going to expect some nerves and some bad plays. It was good to see our kids compete, battle and not get too down early. We have a veteran team - they've been through it before."
Fricke, a junior right-hander, tossed 3 scoreless innings of relief to help preserve the lead.
"My fastball was pretty electric today," said Fricke, who struck out 4 while allowing 1 hit.
"That was big," said Miller. "We're going to lean heavily on him as a pitcher. The original plan was to get him in the game a little later but we had to change our plan."
Buffalo Grove added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh, benefiting from 3 of South Elgin's 6 errors.
"We are having trouble right now," said Kating. "We're booting the ball all over the place. We're young and we're learning but this is going to end or we're going to have a very long season."
Carpinelli pitched a 1-2-3 seventh to record the save.
"This is his third year on varsity," said Miller. "I think he's going to have a huge year for us not only in the field and at the plate but also on the mound."