Baseball: Kmet fans 16, homers twice in St. Viator's split

St. Viator's Cole Kmet was in the middle of the action as the Lions' baseball team hosted Nazareth Academy on Saturday in an East Suburban Catholic Conference doubleheader.

Kmet tossed a complete-game 1-hitter with 16 strikeouts in the first game, which St. Viator won 3-0. He allowed 1 walk, threw 71 of his 92 pitches for strikes and came up with first-pitch strikes against 17 of the 25 hitters he faced.

The Notre Dame-bound senior also had a solo homer; teammates Joe Sarnello and Brett DeSelm doubled and Hunter Johnson drove in 1 run.

Nazareth came out on top 9-5 in the second game.

Kmet homered again, finishing 2-for-2 with 3 RBI, but the Lions couldn't keep pace with Nazareth's 14-hit attack. Bryce Hellgeth also had 2 hits for St. Viator (10-8, 2-4).

Through 18 games, Kmet has 8 homers and 22 RBI. In five pitching starts, he's 2-2 with a 3.55 ERA and 39 strikeouts in 21⅔ innings.

Fremd 10, Glenbrook North 5 (8 inn.): The visiting Vikings won the nonconference matchup by scoring 5 runs in the top of the eighth inning.

Alec Honickel doubled twice, and Luke Seidel also had a double for Fremd (8-9).

Eric Bennes finished 3-for-5 with 2 RBI, and Tommy Josten also drove in 2 runs.

Zach Goodman went 2-for-5 at the plate and also earned the win after tossing 2⅔ relief innings.

Hersey 6, Maine West 4: The visiting Warriors rallied with 3 runs in the seventh, but it was not enough to catch the Huskies in nonconference action.

Hersey had back-to-back 3-run innings in the fourth and fifth.

Alberto Garcia had an RBI triple, while Tyler Haffey finished with 2 of Hersey's 5 hits. The Huskies were helped by 4 errors committed by the Warriors.

Mark Losacco earned the win after allowing 3 runs in 6 innings, and Jake Irwin got the last three outs to earn himself a save.

Maine West (6-10) had plenty of baserunners, getting 2 hits apiece from Cory Scholler, Nick Stone, Jeff Mustari, Costa Paschos and Matty Mustari (double). But the Warriors left 9 runners on base.

Glenbrook South 7, Prospect 6: The visiting Knights saw the Titans grab an early 5-0 lead before reclaiming the advantage at 6-5 - only to see Glenbrook South score single runs in its final two at-bats to win the nonconference contest.

Richie Baczek went 2-for-4 and drove in 2 runs for Prospect (8-7). Ryan Roggeman (double) also had 2 hits, and Ryan Howe doubled and drove in 1 run.

Maine South 7, Elk Grove 6: The Grens were seemingly in command, leading 6-0 after scoring a run in the top of the sixth inning of their nonconference contest against the host Hawks.

But Maine South bounced back, scoring 4 runs in the sixth and rallying with 3 more in the seventh to win it.

Joe Lopez went 3-for-3 and Xander Rojahn had 2 hits for Elk Grove (5-11), which got doubles from Austin Brown and Ryne Singsank.

Salvatore Cecala double twice for Maine South, which committed 7 errors.

Wheeling 5, Riverside-Brookfield 1: The visiting Wildcats got 2 RBI from Brian Maloney and Kevin Pavia, and Kyle Bullock and Mike Wiase had doubles in nonconference play.

Starter Josh Boesen (5 IP) and reliever Joey Sineni (2 IP) allowed a combined 6 hits and no earned runs for Wheeling (10-7-1).

Buffalo Grove 11, Evanston 8: Leo Rule and Mac Camardo both had 3 hits and drove in 2 runs as the host Bison won their sixth straight by producing 14 hits in nonconference play.

Riley Rundquist finished 2-for-3 with a solo homer and Tyler Rundquist went 2-for-2 with a walk for Buffalo Grove (13-1-1).

Rio Komatani earned the win in relief.

Rolling Meadows 1, Glenbard North: Nate Pardini drove in Joe Coen with the game's only run as the host Mustangs won for the second straight day.

Ryan Lane was sharp on the mound, allowing 3 hits and no walks with 2 strikeouts in a complete-game victory, and Justin Thompson had 2 hits for Rolling Meadows (3-12).

New Trier 8, Barrington 2: Eric Kozlowski's first-inning double plated the only runs the visiting Broncos could come up with in a nonconference loss.

Blake Gosswein had 2 hits for Barrington (15-5), which was limited to 5 hits in complete-game effort by Thomas Nugent.

Jacobs 6, Conant 0: Golden Eagles starter Matt Camp blanked the visiting Cougars through 6 innings as Conant (6-11) dropped a nonconference matchup.

Tyler Hedmen doubled for one of the 3 Cougars hits.

Lake Park 3, Schaumburg 1: Nick Calip, Jack Lancaster and Logan Knox had the only hits as the host Saxons (5-12) could not take advantage of a quality start from Vinnie Kandefer (6 IP, 3H, 5K) in suffering a nonconference loss.

Palatine 6, Rockford Boylan 4: The host Pirates scored single runs in the fifth and sixth innings to get some breathing room and held on for a nonconference win.

J.T. Streepy, Jack Hopper, Jack Grochowski and Zach Oles each double for Palatine (10-8).

Brent Penrose and Oles had 2 hits apiece, and Streepy stole 2 bases to make a winner of T.J. Skelnik, who allowed 5 hits, 1 earned run and struck out seven in a complete-game win.

Hinsdale Central 8, Leyden 7: The visiting Eagles came up with a 5-run rally in the top of the seventh inning, but lost the West Suburban crossver when the Red Devils scored in the bottom half.

Kevin Nevarez, Justin Borges and Nick Herrera had doubles for Leyden (7-3). Herrera, Borges and Nico Sanchez had 3 hits apiece.