Saxons finish it with fourth league title

Schaumburg players arrived earlier than necessary for Saturday's Mid-Suburban League baseball championship game.

The Saxons finished making history earlier than many expected on the sunny and windy day against visiting Rolling Meadows.

Schaumburg needed only 5 innings to complete its first MSL repeat and fourth league title as senior right-hander George Kalousek threw a 4-hitter in an 11-1 victory.

"(Friday) at practice you could tell everyone was ready to go," said Purdue-bound senior catcher Dominick D'Agata. "We just wanted to get out here and play. At 8:30 (a.m.) everyone was ready to go even though we weren't supposed to be on the field until 9."

Everyone in the lineup played a part in Schaumburg (20-6) avenging a 2-1 regular-season loss to 10-time MSL champion Meadows (17-10) by scoring in double figures for the 13th time this season.

The Eastern Illinois-bound Kalousek (7-2) allowed 1 run for the third straight start. He threw 52 of his 79 pitches for strikes, had 3 strikeouts and 1 walk and retired 9 of the last 10 hitters he faced.

"I didn't have my best stuff," Kalousek said. "But when you have bats like that going it takes a lot of the pressure off."

A 6-run second inning put the Saxons on their way to becoming the eighth repeat champion in league history.

Their 19th 20-win season under Paul Groot pushed him past Barrington's Kirby Smith for most victories by a baseball coach at an MSL school with 540.

"I didn't expect this type of score," Groot said. "George did the job on the mound for us, our hitters came through and we made them pay when they made a few mistakes."

Doubles by Kalousek and Steve Mahler (2-for-2) and a pair of errors on a Kyle Pusateri grounder put the Saxons ahead 2-1 in the second off Meadows starter Jon Carlson (3-1). With one out and the infield in, senior Matt Kiszkowski punched an RBI single up the middle.

Kiszkowski went 2-for-2 and is hitting better than .500 since moving into the starting lineup a couple of weeks ago.

"On a 2-1 count I was sitting on a fastball," Kiszkowski said. "I got it and I was looking to put the ball in play and hit it hard."

Meadows lost chances to get outs when the Saxons had two runners at third on D'Agata's bases-loaded RBI single and when Dave Compitello swiped home on a late throw off a first-and-third play with Mike Mistrata.

"When you put guys on base with this team, for sure they're going to manufacture runs," said Meadows center fielder Kevin Serna.

"We didn't make any plays that inning at all," said Meadows coach Jim Lindeman. "And you can't fall behind in the count to their hitters. All nine guys can swing the bat and they showed it today."

Schaumburg didn't need any homers as Mistrata got 2 RBI when D'Agata broke up potential inning-ending, bases-loaded double plays. Alec Fontanez had 2 RBI and Dan Launhardt had an RBI single.

"You can't just hit the big homer all the time," D'Agata said. "We can play small ball and if a team makes errors we're going to capitalize."

Serna had an RBI single in the second but Kalousek left the bases loaded by striking out powerful Kyle Gaedele (1-for-3) on a curveball.

"That was huge because he's a kid who is capable with one swing of putting them up 5-0," Groot said.

Instead, the Saxons were off to only the second 10-run rule MSL title game since 1985.

"It feels awesome," Kiszkowski said. "This is one of the goals the team has been looking for the whole year and it's great to finally accomplish it."