Baseball: Barrington handles Elk Grove; Wheeling takes MSL East lead
Barrington, which lost the last two Mid-Suburban League baseball title games to Elk Grove, got a measure of revenge Thursday. The Broncos banged out 11 hits and rolled over Elk Grove 10-2.
"They beat us in some big games the last two years," said Brooks Gosswein, who had 2 hits and 2 RBI. "We felt like we needed a little payback for these guys and we delivered."
Barrington coach Pat Wire said that despite the losses to Elk Grove the past two years, his approach was just to look to this season.
"We are just worried about us," Wire said. "Last year was last year and this year is this year. It is all different. Whether it is Elk Grove or somebody else, we are trying to the play the best baseball we can to put ourselves in a position at the end."
Gosswein along with Tyler Trojan, Will Yorton, Eric Kozlowski and Dave Mitchell each had two hits as Barrington (13-3, 3-0) won its eighth in row and 11th in its last 12 games.
"We are a hitting team, but we are also a pitching team," Gosswein said. "I just put the ball in play and doing little things to help the team out."
Elk Grove (4-7, 0-3), which had lost the two previous days to Prospect by a run in each game, had been struggling at the plate coming into Thursday.
The Grens, who scored just one run in those games against Prospect, matched that total in the top of the first. Ryan Uehara led off the game with sharp single to right, He then stole second and came on to score Ryne Singsank's single to left.
Barrington tied the game in the second.
Yorton, who picked up the win, reached on an error. Courtesy runner Michael Zavolli stole second and came on to score as Mitchell, who was making his first start because Tyler Acosta was ill, drilled a single to left.
"It was great to get out there today," Mitchell said. "I have been working really hard and swinging the bat well. I was glad that I was able to contribute out there."
Sparked by Mitchell, the Broncos exploded the next two innings to break the game open.
Barrington scored three times in the the third. Gosswein had an RBI single, scoring Trojan, who'd singled with two out and nobody on. Kozlowski followed with a double to score Clark Elliot, who had walked and Gosswein to make it 4-1.
Barrington walked six times in the fourth as the Broncos sent 11 batters to the plate.
Sean Davis had a sacrifice fly to score Yorton, who led the inning off with a single. Trojan also had a RBI single to score Mitchell and Jeff Korus also scored on the play thanks to an error. Elliot drove in a run on a fielder's choice while Gosswein and Kozlowski also had RBI singles.
"I was happy the way we swung it today," Wire said. "I thought we did a good job of putting the bat on the ball."
Elk Grove coach Terry Beyna said it has been a tough week for his team.
"It has been a tough start," Beyna said. "It is a very short conference season. But right now, we just have to play a little better fundamentally. We were in the game early and this one just got away from us."
Wheeling 7, Palatine 1: Drew Roberts finished 3-for-5 with a double and Jack Splett tossed a complete-game 6-hitter with 5 strikeouts as the visiting Wildcats (6-4-2 overall) remain unbeaten against MSL competition at 3-0.
Splett also drove in 2 runs. The Cats also got 2 hits from Andy Shover and played an error-free game.
J.T. Streepy had 2 hits, including a triple, and Jake Andersen had a double.
Conant 7, Hersey 2: The visiting Cougars scored 6 of their runs in the first three innings to make a winner of Mason Sykes, who pitched 6 innings and allowed 3 hits and 2 earned runs.
Tyler Hedmen and Logan Smith both had 2 hits for the Cougars (5-7, 2-1). Smith drove in 2 runs, and Tim Fauth doubled and had an RBI.
Tyler Haffey went 2-for-4 with a walk in the leadoff spot for Hersey (4-6-1, 1-2).
Glenbrook South 6, Maine West 0: The host Warriors (3-7) were limited to 5 singles as the Titans won a Central Suburban League crossover.