Lorenz, Arlington stop Prospect

Matt Lorenz has no interest in being a big shot.

"I'm not a home run guy," Lorenz said.

But the second baseman and No. 9 hitter for Arlington's American Legion baseball team did the next best thing in Monday's Cook County showdown with Elk Grove.

Lorenz brought 3 runs home with a tiebreaking two-out triple down the right field line in the top of the fourth inning that sent Arlington to a 12-1 victory in 6 innings at Prospect High School.

"It's the same thing every time -- I just wanted to see what I can do," Lorenz said. "The coaches don't want me to swing too hard and I've been trying to punch it to right-center or right field. That's what I've been working on."

Tim Scanlan hit a grand slam, Jason Ganek had a 2-run shot and Trace Ruffie (10-0) threw a 3-hitter as Arlington (32-8, 12-1) beat Elk Grove (28-3, 10-2) for the second time to gain the inside track on the top seed for the County tournament starting next Tuesday.

For 3 innings, it was a repeat of an early-season pitcher's duel where Ruffie beat Elk Grove's Will Osmanski 3-0.

But a two-out double by Jon Mueller and an error put Elk Grove up 1-0 in the third.

"I was definitely expecting (a close game) and I thought that error was going to be big," said Ruffie, who had 6 strikeouts and 1 walk and threw 61 of his 93 pitches for strikes. "The last time we played them it was 1-0 until the last inning."

Osmanski's wildness eventually caught up with him as 4 of his 7 walks in 4ˆ¿ innings scored. Matt Serna had the first Arlington hit with one out in the fourth and an error set up Lorenz's triple.

Scott Winters beat out a chopper up the third-base line with the bases loaded and two out in the fifth before Scanlan's blast to right.

"They have the best plate discipline of any team in the league," said Elk Grove coach Brian Mucha.

"Our pitching has been real good and we've got a lot of live bats," Lorenz said. "We've got power and good speed throughout the order."

Ruffie did the rest as Elk Grove suddenly takes a two-game losing streak to Wilmette today.

"I didn't expect this outcome," Mucha said. "I don't think we came out and weren't prepared or didn't come ready to play. Our guys were geeked up to play."