Arlington crowned again
Arlington wasn't shaken after Elk Grove rolled to a 16-10 victory in Sunday's final day of the Cook County American Legion baseball tournament.
After all, getting rattled hasn't led to a decade of county dominance. And Arlington still had one shot left after its first loss in the double-elimination event that finished at Palatine High School.
Second-seed Arlington (36-9) responded with 4 homers and 19 hits to claim its fourth straight Cook County title and 10th in 11 years with a 16-6 win in 6 innings over No. 3 Elk Grove (27-13).
"This team battles and we're fighters," said Valparaiso-bound Kyle Gaedele after earning tournament MVP honors with 3 homers and 20 RBI in six games. "We didn't get our heads down at all and we stayed confident," said Arlington designated hitter Mike Toljanic after going 4-for-4 with 2 homers and 4 RBI in the decisive victory.
"We came out with a whole new intensity the second game," said outfielder Kevin Serna, whose 3-run homer in the third inning broke a 2-2 tie and started Arlington's onslaught of 12 unanswered runs. "It was a whole new ball team on the field. We had great sticks and it was more like us."
Serna also added a pair of doubles, Shane Uhle homered and doubled, Jason Leblebijian went 4-for-5 with 2 RBI and Bobby Gehm, Brett Kay and Gaedele drove in runs. Lefty Dominic Pugliese (7-0) went 5 innings for his second win of the tournament to give Arlington a shot at a third straight state title when it opens play Wednesday afternoon at Belleville's Whitey Herzog Stadium against Fifth Division champion Edwardsville (30-9).
"We were set up with our pitching and Pugliese did a good job," said Arlington coach Lloyd Meyer after getting doused with ice water by Gaedele and Tim Scanlan.
Elk Grove, which had its best finish in its nine-year history, ended an eight-game losing streak over the last three seasons to Arlington by jumping to a 10-0 lead after two innings in the opener. Kevin Osmanski, Matt Kiszkowski (3-for-5), Kyle Pusateri (3-for-5) and Dan Launhardt led the early outburst with 2-run doubles.
But the Red Sox couldn't stop an offense that scored 80 runs in six games.
"Their lineup is just stacked full of great hitters," Elk Grove shortstop Joey Zubrus said after going 3-for-4 with 2 RBI in the opener en route to winning the tourney sportsmanship award. "They all have great approaches at the plate."
Elk Grove also was hurt in the opener when starter George Kalousek had to leave with one out in the third after he felt a pop in his right elbow, which was inflamed earlier this summer. That forced winner Andy Brandt to go 5 innings, and Derek Wojcik got three of the final five outs on strikes after throwing 8 innings Friday.
"We didn't know how far (Kalousek) would be able to go and that kind of threw a little damper in our plans," said Elk Grove coach Brian Mucha, who played for Arlington. "We didn't want to bring in Andy that early. We just ran out of gas.
"We came out excited the whole tournament. I'm happy we won the first game and gave them a run at least."
The runs just kept coming for Arlington even though Gaedele, who was 3-for-4 with a homer, 2 doubles and 6 RBI in the opener, and Scanlan weren't doing most of the damage. Serna emphatically broke out of slump when he put a 2-1 pitch from Chris Hoffman over the fence in left-center.
"My first at-bat was kind of a timing at-bat," Serna said of a bases-loaded strikeout. "Once I got my timing down I was able to start hitting the ball. It was nice to finally start doing that."
Toljanic, who will be a senior at Hersey, capped a surprising power day with his third homer of the summer with a man on to set the final score in the sixth.
"There's a first time for everything," Toljanic smiled after the first 2-homer game of his life. "Today was a good day to do it."