Prospect 11, Rolling Meadows 8
Prospect got some big boosts on the mound in its battle to stay in the Mid-Suburban East baseball race Monday.
The first came in the first inning against visiting Rolling Meadows. Senior third baseman Tim Scanlan brought everyone in for a chat as Prospect was on the verge of falling into a big hole.
"I thought this could get ugly," Scanlan said.
The others came in relief from senior Alex Lazarz.
Lazarz left the bases loaded in the fifth to keep Prospect (11-10, 7-4) within a run. And he left them loaded again in the seventh to finish an 11-8 victory that pulled the two-time defending division champions within a game of Meadows (12-6, 8-3).
"It was almost like a must-win for us," Scanlan said. "Not only how it would be standings-wise but confidence-wise."
Lazarz pitched 2½ innings of scoreless relief where he allowed only an infield single for his second win of the season over Meadows. He came in after left-hander Dominic Pugliese allowed only 2 earned runs and had 8 strikeouts in 4¿ innings.
"I've been pitching pretty badly lately," Lazarz said. "This win was big for me in confidence. It was big for the team, too, with this win."
Prospect had lost 4 straight MSL games and Meadows appeared poised for a big first inning.
Enter Scanlan.
"From what's been happening with us, we've been giving up the big inning," Scanlan said. "I didn't want to start the game on a such a bad note. I said, 'Let's relax and make some plays for our pitcher.'"
Prospect allowed only 2 runs and took advantage of 4 walks by Jon Carlson and 3 errors to score 7 runs in the first. Scanlan (2-for-4) and Miles Osei had 2-run singles and Andrew Cardona (3-for-4) had an RBI double.
Meadows responded with a 6-run fifth and took advantage of a two-out error as Kevin Serna (2-for-4) lined a 2-run single for an 8-7 lead. After Lazarz intentionally walked Kyle Gaedele (2-for-3) to load the bases he got a grounder to end the threat.
"Even though it may have looked like they got the confidence," Scanlan said, "him shutting them down the way he did really gave us confidence."
Prospect tied it on Matt Smith's two-out RBI single to left in the fifth where Gaedele threw out the potential go-ahead run at home. But singles by John Coen, Jason Leblebijian and Scanlan set up a 3-run sixth where Shane Uhle was hit by a pitch and 2 runs scored on Meadows' fourth error.
"Obviously it was a bigger game for them than us," Meadows coach Jim Lindeman said. "But if we play like we did today, we may not win any more in conference.
"I expect we'll come out (today at Palatine) and swing the bats. If we catch the ball we'll be OK."
With two outs and runners at second and third, Prospect coach Ross Giusti had Lazarz pitch to Gaedele to keep the winning run from coming to the plate. Lazarz hit Gaedele with a 1-2 pitch but struck out Carlson on a curveball.
"Our pitching staff needed this confidence-builder," Giusti said.
"I wasn't even thinking about him hitting a grand slam," Lazarz said. "I knew I needed to get Carlson out. My curveball was real good today."
Fremd 7, Schaumburg 3: Jason Ford's arm and bat helped host Fremd (12-6, 7-5) complete a season sweep and pull within 1½ games of MSL West leader Schaumburg (14-5, 8-3).
Ford (4-1) went the distance and scattered 8 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts. He also hit a 2-run homer, his eighth, and Ryan Shober (2-for-3) hit a 2-run homer, his fifth, as Fremd broke open a 3-2 game with 4-run sixth.
Mike Tauchman also went 2-for-3 for the Vikings. Dave Compitello and Dominick D'Agata went 2-for-4 as the Saxons, who lost the first meeting 6-3, had a 5-game winning streak snapped.
Barrington 3, Conant 2: Bryan Grabowski's 2-out RBI single in the top of the 10th and Johnny Day's defense in the bottom of the inning helped Barrington (12-9, 7-4) move within 1 game of Schaumburg in the West.
Grabowski, who also hit a solo homer, came through with runners at first and second. But with one out in the bottom of the 10th, Mark Chereso tripled to center for Conant (7-10, 4-7).
Day caught a liner to left-center and fired to catcher Jack Golek, who came back to tag Chereso for the final out. Tom Unak got the win with 3 strikeouts in 2 innings of relief after Sean Buchholz had 10 strikeouts in 8 innings.
Leyden 9, Downers South 1: Jonathan Weaver was a force on the mound and at the plate as Leyden (17-3, 12-1) won the first of three in the West Suburban Gold showdown with Downers Grove South (21-5, 11-2).
Weaver (5-1) allowed just 3 hits and had 14 strikeouts and 2 walks in 6½ innings. He also homered and had 3 RBI.
Tim Mackey and Cam Stephens went 2-for-4 and combined for 3 RBI.
BG 10, Elk Grove 9: James Hurley got an infield hit and scored the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the eighth as Buffalo Grove (8-10, 4-8) broke a 4-game losing streak in the MSL East.
Zach Borenstein went 2-for-3 with 2 RBI and Steve Pollokov was 2-for-3 for BG. Mike Czurylo was 3-for-4 and Tony Logli homered for Elk Grove (11-11, 5-5).
Palatine 5, Hoffman 1: Steve Reis threw a complete-game 2-hitter with 9 strikeouts as Palatine (8-15, 5-6) won its fourth straight in the MSL West. Mark Sloma had a 2-run double in a 5-run fifth.
Eric McGinnis went the distance for Hoffman (7-9, 3-7) with 7 strikeouts and allowed only 1 earned run.
Hersey 6, Wheeling 2: Chris James threw a 6-hitter as Hersey (12-12, 4-8) scored in every inning but the third in the MSL East. Mike Schmadebeck and Matt Milligan had 2 hits as the Huskies beat Wheeling (4-10, 4-6) ace Steve Slussar.
St. Viator 12, St. Patrick 2: Phil Bar (3-for-4) and Nick Skala homered, Brett Kay was 3-for-4 and Jack Meyer went 2-for-3 as St. Viator (15-10, 6-7) won the East Suburban Catholic game in 6 innings.
Mike Bordes (5-1) threw a complete-game 5-hitter with 5 strikeouts.