Baseball: St. Viator starts with a victory; Wheeling still unbeaten

St. Viator's baseball team began the defense of its Class 3A state championship with a victory over a strong Class 4A team.

The Lions out-hit visiting Huntley 13 to 1 but had to stave off a seventh-inning rally to earn a 4-2 victory on Thursday in nonconference play.

Casey Kmet led a productive St. Viator lineup with a 3-for-3, and Ryan Stejskal provided some power with a 2-run homer in the second inning.

Cori Korab doubled, and Michael Wittich, Hunter Johnson and Stejskal had 2 hits apiece.

Starter Bryce Hellgeth was about untouchable, yielding only a single with 6 strikeouts and 1 walk through 5 innings.

Jack Papadia relieved Casey Pulikowski and got the final three outs to earn a save.

Wheeling 4, Vernon Hills 3: Senior Nate Dirkes drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the seventh inning to push the winning across for the host Wildcats, making a relief winner of Eric Konrath and keeping Wheeling unbeaten this spring at 4-0 with victory in its home opener.

In the Wheeling seventh, Cade Kaplan got the rally started with a one-out double. Cade Zalewski followed with a hit-by-pitch before DJ Godlewski drew a walk to load the bases for Dirkes.

Wheeling starter Josh Boesen allowed 1 earned run over 5 innings and struck out four, and Roberts and Zalewski came through with doubles.

Elk Grove 7, Leyden 4: Senior Tyler Selvig went 2-for-2 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI to lead the Grens' offense.

Ryne Singsank worked the first five innings, striking out nine and allowing 2 hits for the win. Joe Montag went the final 2 innings, striking out three and giving up 1 hit for Elk Grove (2-0).

Also getting hits for EG were Shane Crimmins (1-for-2, RBI, double), Nick Hoffman 1-for-4, RBI, double), and Zach Mahoney (1-for-3).

Nick Herrera Sebastian Rosario and Danny Flores had the hits for Leyden (0-4).

Conant 6, St. Charles East 6: Conant rallied with 4 runs in the sixth inning to grab a 6-5 lead before host St. Charles East tied their nonconference matchup with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

The teams played a scoreless eighth before running out of daylight in a game that ended in a 6-6 tie.

Dave Sapyta doubled twice for Conant (1-0-1). Jack Reiger had a pair of hits, including a double, and Mason Sykes homered and finished 2-for-4 with 2 RBI.

St. Charles East got 3 hits from Charlie Carpenter, all of them doubles.

Deerfield 9, Hersey 4: Will Adamski, Sam Alonzo and Daniel Clawson had doubles, but the visiting Huskies (0-2) couldn't match Deerfield's offensive output in a nonconference loss.

Matthew Fang finished 3-for-3 with a double, 3 RBI and 3 runs scored for Deerfield.

Willowbrook 11, Maine West 4: Maine West got RBI doubles from Josh Wastyn (1-for-3) and Anthony Salemi (1-for-3) while Costa Paschos was 1-for-1 with a run. Cory Schiller also had an RBI for West (1-1).

Rockton Hononegah 2, Schaumburg 1: The host Saxons weren't able to take advantage of some solid pitching in a nonconference setback.

Schaumburg's Brandon Seidner started and provided 5 innings of 4-hit ball; he allowed both Hononegah runs. Tyler Robinson relieved and tossed 2 hitless, scoreless innings.

The Saxons (2-1) scored their run in the first inning on a bases-loaded walk by Joe Unger. Robinson and Ruan Sakamoto accounted for Schaumburg's 2 hits.

Buffalo Grove 9, South Elgin 4: Riley Rundquist walked twice and drove in 2 runs to help the host Bison pick up a nonconference victory.

T.J. Constertina earned the victory in a dominant 5-inning effort in which he allowed 3 hits and struck out nine with 1 walk. The Storm scored all their runs in the sixth inning, after Constertina was done pitching.

Buffalo Grove had no extra-base hits but drew 8 walks and had 2 steals from Zach Fricke and 1 from Rundquist.

Barrington 3, Crystal Lake South 3: For the second time in its first four games, Barrington played to a tie in nonconference action.

The visiting Broncos (1-1-2) grabbed a 3-1 lead after scoring once in the top of the seventh inning, but the Gators rallied for 2 of their own in the bottom half, after which play was suspended.

The tying runs score on an error.

Starter Rami Fakhoury allowed 3 hits and 1 earned run over 4 innings for Barrington. Michael Zavoli doubled and drove in a run for the Broncos, and Clark Elliott drove in 2 runs.

Grayslake Central 12, Hoffman Estates 7: The teams combined for 25 hits, with the host Rams making better use of their 12 in nonconference action.

Dylan Bloom led the effort for the Hawks with a homer as part of his 2-for-3, 3-RBI day.

Adam Burks, Richie Banas and Tom Curcio had 2 hits apiece for Hoffman Estates (1-3), and Logan Willis went 3-for-4 with a double.