Baseball: Dundee-Crown trips up Jacobs
The Dundee-Crown baseball team is developing the look of a dangerous postseason dark horse.
Long eliminated from the race in the brutal Fox Valley Conference, the Chargers nevertheless seem to be rounding into playoff form with their postseason opener against Larkin less than a week away.
Dundee-Crown (14-15, 7-14) won its fifth straight Wednesday, a 10-3 victory over rival Jacobs in Carpentersville in the first of a 3-game FVC series.
With winds gusting out to left field, D-C leadoff man Scott Wojcik belted his second and third home runs of the season and Conor Ryan limited the Golden Eagles to 3 earned runs in 4 innings in preparation for his start against Larkin next Monday.
"I'm real happy because Scotty and Conor are probably the two hardest-working guys in the weight room in the off season," Dundee-Crown coach Matt Mueller said. "Scotty is hitting .380 with 3 homers and 12 doubles. He's been amazing for us. And he's been playing great center field."
Dundee-Crown hopes to rekindle the playoff dark horse magic of 2013, when the Chargers upset No. 1 Huntley to win the DeKalb regional and went on to reach the Sweet 16.
"It doesn't matter where you start; It's where you finish," said Ryan (3-2). "I feel like as a team we're finishing the right way and we're going to roll into this regional hot when no one is expecting us to be."
The only seasoned varsity hitters in the lineup for Jacobs (16-17, 7-15) - Nebraska-bound center fielder Mike Addante and No. 3 hitter Adam Kale - were back in the lineup Tuesday. Addante played his second game since suffering a knee sprain three weeks ago, his first in the field. He finished 1-for-4 with a double. Kale, who has missed approximately 10 games with a hip issue, singled.
Jacobs coach Jamie Murray said the experience gained by younger players in the absence of injured senior leaders will make his team better heading into next Monday's playoff opener against Elgin.
"In our win against McHenry on Saturday, we had one senior in the lineup and four sophomores so that's the part we're hanging our hats on," Murray said. "We're getting the older guys back and the younger guys have gotten some experience, which gives us depth. We have two games to play (against Dundee-Crown) before we get to Elgin on Monday, and I feel comfortable with the two pitchers we'll throw in a regional."
D-C jumped to a 3-0, first-inning lead as Jacobs committed 2 errors that led to 3 unearned runs against Brad Demkovich (3-3).
The Golden Eagles scored 3 in the top of the fourth inning to tie the game. Ian Oreskovich scored on a wild pitch from Ryan, Bryce Vincent's sacrifice fly made it 3-2 and Addante's groundout tied it.
Then came Wojcik's first home run in the bottom of the fourth, a low line drive that caromed off and over the protective yellow tubing atop the left field fence, scoring Jack Waldron, who singled with one out.
With his team leading 7-3 in the sixth, Wojcik ripped a high fastball for a no-doubt-about-it home run.
"Our team is hot right before the playoffs, and that's what we like to see," Wojcik said.