Falcons flying high

Wheaton North's fourth-inning outburst arrived and passed quickly Saturday.

But 7 runs in a 9-pitch sequence did more than enough damage to top-seeded Schaumburg in the Class 4A Larkin baseball sectional title game in Elgin.

Junior right-hander Trey Martin made sure he wasn't victimized by any similar storms. Martin shut down the powerful Saxons on 3 hits as No. 2 seed Wheaton North won its first sectional title 10-2.

"It feels great," said Wheaton North junior Aric Dama, whose 2-run homer started the scoring. "We're all really excited to play Monday to have a chance to go to state."

Matt Palackdharry and Mike Small each had 3 hits as the Falcons (23-13) finished with 14. Martin (6-0) didn't allow an earned run as they advanced to Monday's 4:30 p.m. Lisle supersectional at Benedictine University against Loyola (24-13), which beat Leyden 11-4 for the Niles West sectional title.

Martin, making his third start after a three-week layoff with a bicep strain, had 7 strikeouts and 2 of his 4 walks were in the seventh.

"He's been shutting down teams all year," Dama said.

"I stuck with the fastball a lot," Martin said. "I had my location on that and kept them off balance with the other pitches."

Schaumburg (24-7) was averaging 7½ runs with 13 double-figure scoring games.

"He had us the whole game and had our number today," said Purdue-bound Saxons catcher Dominick D'Agata, who went 0-for-4.

"I was a little fearful that we hadn't seen a right-hander who threw hard all year," said Schaumburg coach Paul Groot. "I told our kids we were going to see a good fastball and he just threw it right by us.

"They're a good club. They impressed me."

Schaumburg righty George Kalousek (9-2) got out of first-and-second, one-out jams in the first and third. With one out in the fourth, Wade Cervenka lined a 3-2 pitch for a single to center.

Dama hit the next pitch to center and it kept carrying for his second homer of the year.

"I didn't put that great of a swing on it, but I hit it on a perfect spot on the bat and it kept going with the wind," Dama said.

"It was awesome," Martin said. "We like to say he's 'wise eyes.' That got it going and once it's rolling…"

Martin reached on a single and error, Brett Kirchhofer bunted for a hit and Small lined an 0-2 pitch to right-center for an RBI double.

After Jack DeAno was intentionally walked, Palackdharry lined a 2-run single. Kalousek was relieved by Kyle Pusateri and Ryan Javech singled in 2 runs through a drawn-in infield.

"It's been happening all year for us that way," Palackdharry said. "One through nine we can hit the ball and get guys on base."

Schaumburg didn't get its first hit until Dave Compitello's two-out double in the third. Three throwing errors and Mike Mistrata's flyball to right that was lost in the high sky for an RBI double cut its deficit to 7-2 in the fifth.