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Baseball: West Aurora nips South Elgin

Admittedly, Alec Losselyoung was looking for a fastball.

West Aurora's junior second baseman lined a 1-0 pitch into the left-centerfield gap, driving pinch-runner Johnny Acevedo across with the game-winning run during the Blackhawks' topsy-turvy, 9-8 Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division baseball victory over South Elgin (4-5, 1-3) Thursday in Aurora.

"I was thinking first-pitch fastball," said Losselyoung, who went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI and the game-winning double. "The first pitch was a little outside so I knew they probably were going to go right back to it.

"Thankfully, it probably wasn't thrown where they wanted it and I barreled it into left field."

Blackhawks coach John Reeves was pleased with Losselyoung's approach.

"He crushed it and when the kid (center fielder) bobbled it, we were going to go (home)," said Reeves. "Johnny runs pretty well so we'll take our chances. It worked out well."

With the win, the Blackhawks (9-7, 3-4) took 2 of 3 games from the defending UEC Valley champion Storm with a pair of walk-off victories.

"That was one intense series," said Reeves. "They can swing the bats. Yesterday, we kind of came out and laid an egg (in a 9-0 loss). The kid they threw yesterday was really good and then we made six errors so it was nice to come back out here and get the win.

"We hadn't played a series like that in a while."

Junior reliever Adrian Ruiz recorded the victory, tossing 5 innings of 3-run ball with 1 walk and 7 strikeouts.

"Adrian was fantastic," said Reeves. "Early on, he came in and picked up a save in a 3-2 win over Metea (Valley). He has had a couple so-so outings since but then today he was great."

Pitching proved to be the downfall for the Storm as 5 different players combined to hit 3 batters and issue 10 walks while scattering 6 base hits.

"Of those 13 guys, eight of them scored," said South Elgin coach Jim Kating. "You're not going to win many games like that, plus all of the passed balls and wild pitches. We just did not pitch well today and they earned it."

South Elgin grabbed a 3-0 lead in the top of the first, highlighted by Nick Poblocki's RBI double and 3 Blackhawks' errors.

However, West Aurora struck back for a 5-spot in the bottom half of the frame. Ryan Teuscher's 2-run single and Ruiz' RBI double were the big hits, supported by 4 walks and a hit batsman.

After Austin Doty's 2-run home run tied the game at 5-5 in the top of the second, the Blackhawks regained the lead with a second-inning run of their own before adding 2 more in the third. Cam Zimmerman, who was hit by a pitch 3 times, forced in a run when he was plunked by a pitch before Losselyoung's RBI single.

Poblocki's 2-run home run in the fifth narrowed South Elgin's deficit to 8-7 before Ben Hetelle's 2-out infield single in the top of the seventh tied the score at 8-8.

"We didn't play well but I'm very proud of the kids for staying with it, fighting back and tying the game," said Kating.

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