Baseball: Opportunistic Streamwood ousts Elk Grove

In the postseason, the little things matter.

Streamwood mustered just 4 hits against Elk Grove starter Ryne Singsank, but the Sabres played some small ball and took advantage of some Grenadier miscues to eke out a 5-2 win in the opener of the Class 4A Elk Grove baseball regional Tuesday at Streamwood.

Chris Randel's squeeze bunt broke a 2-2 tie in the fourth inning and the Sabres added a couple of insurance runs in the fifth on only 1 hit.

"We knew it was going to come down to some small ball and some timely hits," said Streamwood coach Ryan Lasota. "Today we came up with a couple of big two-out hits, got a couple bunts down, and took advantage of what they gave us."

Elk Grove went ahead early when Singsank launched a line shot over the fence in left-centerfield.

Streamwood took a brief lead in the second on Jared Oliver's 2-run double, but the Grenadiers got it back 2 innings later on a run-scoring double by Zach Mahoney.

Oliver saved the Sabres at least 2 runs by throwing out two Elk Grove runners stealing. In each case, a later batter in the inning doubled, so the caught-stealings were huge.

Colin Caminitti went the distance on the mound for Streamwood (13-17). He pitched to contact and the defense made the plays behind him in the game played at Streamwood.

"He pounded the zone and defensively they made the plays," Lasota said of Caminitti. "He's been like that all year, and the defense came up and we picked it up behind him today. He's been an absolute bulldog for us all season and today was no different."

Streamwood took the lead for good in the fourth when Mike Pawlikoski walked, Max Alanis doubled for 1 of his 2 hits on the day, and Randel's bunt scored the run.

In the fifth, Oliver led off with a walk. Cody Motykowski bunted and everybody was safe when the throw was too late to get runner Kevin Bauer at second. After a wild pitch, Caminitti's grounder scored a run although it appeared the Grenadiers had a play at the plate. Anthony Caruso's single plated the game's final run.

"We made some mistakes," said Elk Grove coach Terry Beyna. "To their credit, they came out aggressive and put the ball in play, and we fumbled a couple out there, misplayed a couple of others, and that was it."

In an odd twist, Streamwood travels to Elk Grove Wednesday to take on York in the semifinals.

Elk Grove finishes the season at 9-19-1.