Hawks start strong

The Fett brothers started the Hoffman Estates baseball season by giving Naperville Central fits Friday afternoon.

So did Hoffman pitchers Matt St. John and Eric McGinnis as they combined on a 2-hitter in a 2-1 nonconference baseball victory in Naperville.

"It was exciting," said Hoffman assistant coach Steve Loh. "They're a quality team and our two pitchers pitched well."

St. John allowed a first-inning run, 1 hit and 1 walk and had 6 strikeouts in 4 innings. McGinnis allowed 1 hit and 1 walk in 3 innings and his fourth strikeout left the tying run at third to end the game.

St. John also made a diving catch in right field to save 2 runs and doubled with one out in the seventh. St. John took third on a groundout and scored the tiebreaking run when Chris Fett beat out a shot up the middle that was knocked down.

Hoffman tied it in the fourth when Jake Fett doubled, took third on a passed ball and scored on a groundout by Alex Fett.

Champaign Centennial 8, Elk Grove 6: Bookend 4-run innings in the first and sixth sent Elk Grove (1-1) to the nonconference loss in Champaign.

"We hit or walked too many guys," said Elk Grove coach Terry Beyna, whose team also committed 4 errors. "We gave them a lot of free runs."

Donny Duschinsky went 2-for-4 with a double and junior Colin Semler was 2-for-2 with a 2-run triple in a 5-run second for Elk Grove.

But Parkland College-bound Colin DeDecker's 2-run homer put Centennial ahead to stay 7-6.

Elk Grove will play a double-header in Danville today.

Libertyville wins in Arizona: Senior lefty Jeff Jenkins rebounded from a tough start as Libertyville won the final game of its Arizona trip Thursday night 5-2 over Bradshaw Mountain.

Jenkins gave up 2 runs in the first but went 5 innings for the victory. He allowed 5 hits and 2 walks with 3 strikeouts.

Brooks McDowell went the final 2 innings, allowing 1 hit and 1 walk with 2 strikeouts, for the save.

Jeremy Butler (2 RBI), Louis Educate (RBI) and Chase Guarnaccio (RBI) each had 2 hits for Libertyville.