Baseball: South Elgin downs Geneva for regional title
What worked for South Elgin pitchers Dylan Wells and Adam Walker against Geneva earlier in the week worked for them again Saturday with far more on the line.
The senior right-handers combined to limit No. 5 Geneva to 3 hits in Saturday's Class 4A Addison Trail regional championship game, and Walker and Nate Gomez blasted 2-run home runs to center field to lift No. 4 South Elgin to a 6-2 victory.
In the regular-season finale five days earlier, Wells and Walker held the same Vikings to 2 runs on 5 hits and struck out 10 without issuing a walk.
"I kind of already knew their order and what they could do," said Walker, who allowed 1 hit in 3 scoreless relief innings, struck out 6 and walked none. "They weren't hitting me then, so we just kind of stuck with the same game plan."
South Elgin (23-4) advances to a Lake Park sectional semifinal, which will be played at Boomers Stadium in Schaumburg on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The Storm will face No. 1 St. Charles North (30-4) in a rematch between Upstate Eight Conference division champions. The North Stars won the regional they hosted with a 12-0, six-inning victory over Glenbard North. South Elgin defeated the North Stars 3-2 on April 30, North's only UEC loss.
"We've got a lot of momentum going in," Gomez said. "Hopefully, we can do it."
Starting pitcher Noah Davison of Geneva (20-12) issued no walks and the senior struck out 4. However, the Storm touched him for 7 hits, including a first-inning long ball from Walker that gave them a 2-0 lead and Gomez's third-inning blast that made it 4-2. Both hitters were behind in the count when they homered.
"Noah was sharp except for two pitches, really, the two home-run pitches he leaves out over the plate when he was ahead," Geneva coach Brad Wendell said. "That was the difference. Give (South Elgin) credit. He missed twice and they took care of it. They played well. We didn't play bad. They just made a few more plays and had a couple of more hits than we did."
Leading 4-2, South Elgin tacked on single runs in the fourth and fifth innings. Nate Smith scored from third base in the fourth when Bryant Diel legged out two-out high chopper to shortstop. Kevin Barry scored the fifth-inning run on an errant pickoff throw to third by Geneva's catcher.
Dylan Baer (double, RBI), Conor Cook and Dominic Guido had the only hits for the Vikings. Diel (RBI), Barry and Walker each accounted for 2 of South Elgin's 10 hits.
The regional title is the fifth in 11 seasons for Storm coach Jim Kating and staff.
"This group this year is very fun to be around," Kating said. "They work hard, they're energetic, they like to play and they all pull in the same direction. Anytime you have those qualities it's really fun to coach. They make it easier on us. And they like being pushed by us, too, so that's even better."