Baseball: Kmet, St. Viator outslug Carmel
Casey Kmet's 3-run homer in the fourth inning helped St. Viator produce an 8-5 victory over visiting Carmel Catholic on Thursday in an East Suburban Catholic Conference baseball matchup.
The Lions, who won their third straight and improved to 15-13 overall, had plenty of contributions at the plate.
Michael Wittich finished 2-for-3 with an RBI double, and Bryce Hellgeth, Ryan Stejskal, Ben Rizner and Michael Ruth had 2 hits apiece.
Casey Pulikowski earned the pitching decision, and Hellgeth got a save after working the seventh inning.
Carmel's lineup had plenty of power, as Lukas Galdoni, James Ward and Austin Ehren each hit home runs.
Elk Grove 8, Hersey 2: The Grenadiers scored 6 runs in the first inning, which proved to be plenty for starter Ryne Singsank in Mid-Suburban East play.
Singsank struck out seven, walked one and allowed 4 hits over 6⅔ innings and earned the victory. Zach Mahoney got the final out for Elk Grove (8-14-1, 5-9).
At the plate, both Mahoney and Singsank were also keys for the Grens. Mahoney went 3-for-3 with a double, and Singsank doubled and drove in 2 runs.
Elk Grove leadoff man Nick Hofmann walked twice and scored twice, and Justin Post went 2-for-3 with an RBI.
For Hersey (10-17-1, 5-9), Cristian Rodriguez finished 2-for-4 and drove in both of the Huskies' runs.
Willowbrook 5, Leyden 2: Dax Meyer kept the host Eagles scoreless through 6 innings before they scored a couple of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Meyer ended up lasting 6⅓ innings and allowed 2 hits and 5 walks with 7 strikeouts to help the Warriors salvage the last game of three in this West Suburban Gold series.
Matt Ozanic came up with both of the hits for Leyden.
Ethan Pieniazek got the final 2 outs for Willowbrook.
Glenbrook North 4, Maine West 3 (8 inn.): The visiting Warriors went ahead by scoring once in the top of the eighth, only to have the Spartans answer with their own decisive 2-run rally.
Maine West got its eighth-inning run when David Roscoe and Matt Johnston came up with two-out singles. Johnston's hit plated Matty Mustari.
Johnston drove in all 3 runs for Maine West (9-12). Both he and Roscoe finished with 2 hits.
Stevenson 7, Fremd 5: The visiting Vikings (13-10) rallied for 3 runs in the top of the seventh inning but came up short in nonconference play. Brett Haman doubled twice and finished 4-for-4, while Mitch Hundley doubled and went 2-for-4.
Nick Rattin had a pair of hits and Will Josten contributed an RBI double.
Addison Trail 4, Wheeling 1: Carl Roberts, Andy Shover and Cade Zalewski each came up with 2 hits but the Wildcats (12-15) took a loss in their nonconference matchup on the road.
Christian Liberty 7, Rochelle Zell 2: Ben Law doubled and tripled and Joey Almy had a double as part of a 7-hit attack while David Law earned the decision with a 1-hitter for the Chargers.