Baseball: Wheeling edges Deefield for winning season
It's been nearly 30 years since Wheeling's baseball team finished the regular season with a winning record.
The Wildcats accomplished that feat on Saturday thanks to a thrilling 8-7 win over visiting Deerfield on senior day.
With two outs and the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh, Kyle Bullock struck out the last Warriors batter to give the Wildcats their 16th win against 15 losses. The last time they had a winning record heading into the postseason was 1989.
An RBI single by Drew Roberts drove home Bullock (3-for-4, 3 doubles) in the third inning, giving Roberts the single-season school record of 53 hits.
The Wildcats produced a 6-run fifth inning thanks to a 2-run homer by Cade Zalewski that tied the score at 4-4.
With the bases loaded and one out in the fifth inning, the Wildcats' Kevin Pavia singled to center to drive in 2 more runs.
Matthew Patterson earned the win and Bullock notched the save.
Barrington 14, Leyden 7: Mid-Suburban West champ Barrington (20-7-2) had home runs from Clark Elliott (4 RBI, 3 runs) and David Mitchell (2-for-4, 3 RBI, 2 runs) in the nonconference game.
Other top hitters for the Broncos were Mikey Owsley (2-for-3, 3 RBI), Max Raynor (2-for-3, 2 runs) and Tyler Acosta (2-for-2, double, 2 runs).
Patrick Hoeller earned the win, throwing two innings with 4 strikeouts.
Palatine 2, Solorio (Chicago) 0: Josh Stitt went 2-for-3 with a double and RBI to lead the offense for host Palatine (20-14) in the nonconference game.
Also hitting safely for the Pirates were Luke Stoffel (1-for-2, 1 run), Jack Hopper (1-for2), TJ Skelnik (1-for-3) and Brent Penrose (1-for-2, double).
Joshua Rivera earned the win, going 4 innings and striking out two and allowing 1 hit. Stitt, Ethan Jankovec and Thomas Soby all put in work out of the bullpen with Soby recording the game's last three outs to earn the save,
Prospect 12, York 1 (6 inn.): Ryan Howe led Prospect with 3 hits and 4 RBI, including a triple in the first inning and a home run in the sixth inning when Prospect scored 9 runs to win the nonconference game by the 10-run rule on senior day.
The Knights (19-11) scored 9 runs in the sixth inning when Howe, Anthony Composto, Bracken Sullivan, Ethan Burgh, Richie Baczek and Ethan Buenzow all drove in runs.
Jack Ankony earned the win, working 6 innings with 3 strikeouts, 1 walk and 4 hits.
Buffalo Grove 8, Niles West 1: David Rizzo threw a five-inning 3-hitter with 3 strikeouts for the Mid-Suburban League champions.
The host Bison (26-5) received a home run from Andy Greenberg and a doubles from Mark Antonetti (2-for-3) and George Sakkos. Anthony Adams also went 2-for-3 for BG.
Schaumburg 7, Lake Park 2: Albert Kiszka went 2-for-2 with 2 RBI for the Saxons (6-20). Ryan Walker (double), Yuki Sato (double), Tyler Robinson, Jack Bahn, Brandon Seidner and Tyler Slome each had 1 hit for Schaumburg. Slome and Zac Studzinski ecah pitched two innings for Schaumburg.
Notre Dame 6, Elk Grove 5: Host Notre Dame won the nonconference game by scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Nick Hofmann (2-for-4), Ryne Singsank (2-for-3, double, 1 run), Zach Mahoney (2-for-4, double, RBI) and Matt Crimmins (2-for-3, double, 2 RBI, 1 run) led the offense for EG (8-18-1) while Hofmann threw the first six innings, striking out five.
Moline 7, St. Viator 6: Host St. Viator (18-16) was led on offense by Jack Mahoney (2-for-3, RBI, runs), Hunter Johnson (3-for-4, 2 RBI, double) and Michael Wittich (2-for-4, 2 RBI, double) in the nonconference game in Arlington Heights.