Wijas, Conant deal winner over Saxons
Conant's Walt Wijas and Schaumburg's Kyle Meyer were dueling and dealing for 5 innings in Wednesday's Mid-Suburban West baseball opener.
One run figured to be enough to win with the wind blowing in from center field. Conant third baseman Jeff Vercillo figured it was time to get things rolling.
"All of us were making contact and we just missed (scoring) a couple of times," Vercillo said. "Coming to the sixth inning - I wanted to start a rally and I was able to work the count."
Singles by Vercillo and shortstop Derek Wojcik led to a 5-run outburst. The Kentucky-bound Wijas took care of the rest as Conant (8-4, 1-0) won 5-0 and avenged three 1-run losses from a year ago to the two-time defending MSL champion Saxons (6-3, 0-1).
"This gives us a big confidence boost," Wijas said. "We had (three) losses in a row (last week) but this was one of our biggest games of the season. It feels pretty good."
Conant likes its chances when Wijas (3-1) takes the mound. The hard-throwing right-hander used his fastball, slider and changeup to scatter 5 singles and finish with 11 strikeouts and 2 walks.
"They all had pretty good movement," Wijas said after throwing 60 of his 96 pitches for strikes.
"I was very impressed with their kid," said Schaumburg coach Paul Groot. "He had a wicked slider. When he got two strikes it was very tough to lay off of and all the check swings we had showed that."
Meyer (4-1) only had 1 strikeout but no walks through 5 innings. Then the Cougars put everything together even though Vercillo and Wojcik had the only hits in the sixth.
Otto Linderman sacrificed and Vercillo beat Meyer's throw to third. Sophomore Joe Belmonte gave Conant the only run it needed with a sacrifice fly to right.
Wijas walked and Nate Rahn had a sacrifice fly to center with another run scoring on an errant throw. Two more of Schaumburg's 5 errors led to the final 2 runs to give Wijas more than enough of a cushion.
"We put the ball in play and made them make plays," said Conant coach Jerry Song. "You're not going to hit big gap shots here today. That's what you have to do with this type of atmosphere."
Conant also backed Wijas with flawless defense. Vercillo made two nice plays on slow rollers and second baseman Bobby Colucci and Wojcik turned a double play to end the sixth.
"If we continue to hit the ball and play solid 'D,'" Vercillo said, "the pitching will take care of itself."
Hoffman 4, Barrington 3: Chris Fett hit a tiebreaking 2-run homer in the sixth inning and Mike Kiviranta threw a 3-hitter as Hoffman Estates (2-10, 1-0) ended a 10-game losing streak and stunned host Barrington (6-4, 0-1) in the MSL West opener.
Kiviranta had 11 strikeouts and 3 walks and allowed only 1 run out of bases-loaded, no-out jam in the sixth caused by 3 errors.
"He just pitched great," said Hoffman assistant Steve Loh. "He had good control and he was real tough through the last few innings."
Hoffman trailed 2-0 on a balk and a controversial ground-rule RBI double by Chris Holke in the fourth which Barrington thought cleared the fence for a 2-run homer.
Hoffman tied it in the fifth with RBI groundouts to the right side by Don Rathje and Mike Norman after Zach Demmon's double put runners at second in the third. Freshman Kevin Gradzinski singled to start the seventh and after Justin Harris sacrificed, Fett homered down the left-field line.
Buffalo Grove 5, Prospect 4: James Hurley went 3-for-4 with a two-out RBI single to cap a 3-run rally in the bottom of the sixth for BG (4-5, 1-0) in the MSL East. Jon Moore (2-for-4) had an RBI single and Steve Pollakov a sacrifice fly in the inning.
Greg Sanders went 2-for-2 with 2 RBI, Tommy Ricciardi was 2-for-4 and winning pitcher J.P. Kulick went 2-for-3.
Prospect (4-7, 0-1) sophomore Peter Bonahoom hit a solo homer in the second and a 2-run shot in the sixth. Kulick (2-1) had 8 strikeouts and 3 walks in 6-plus innings and Dan Recht got the save on a game-ending 4-6-3 double play by Dan Linden, Moore and Hurley.
Meadows 8, Hersey 7: Defending MSL East champion Rolling Meadows (5-6, 1-0) scored 7 runs in the final two innings as Will Trunk's RBI single capped a 4-run bottom of the seventh.
Dan Wenzel hit a two-out, 3-run homer in the sixth to put Meadows up 4-3. Hersey (5-6, 0-1) rallied with 4 two-out runs in the seventh but Meadows answered as an RBI double by Jon Carlson, an RBI single by Pat Conlin and an RBI single by Dan Lynch set up Trunk's game-winner.
Jake Knauss had 2 doubles and an RBI and Joey Koziol went 3-for-3 for Hersey.
Fremd 9, Palatine 8: Tyler Gregory (4-for-5) had a go-ahead RBI single in a 4-run sixth and Mike Schoolcraft got the win with 41/3 innings of solid relief for Fremd (5-4, 1-0) in the MSL West win.
Eric Paulsen also went 4-for-5 for the Vikings and Schoolcraft left the tying run at third with one out in the seventh. Andy Prombo and Joe Campe had 2 hits for Palatine (3-9, 0-1).
Elk Grove 14, Wheeling 3: Colin Semler went 3-for-4 with 2 doubles and 2 RBI and Donny Duschinsky was 3-for-5 with 3 RBI as Elk Grove (10-4, 1-0) had 13 hits and took advantage of 9 errors by host Wheeling (1-11, 0-1) in the MSL East.
Kyle Pfister (4-1) allowed an unearned run and had 7 strikeouts and no walks in 5 innings. Matt Holmes was 2-for-3 with a double, triple and an RBI and Josh Mathys was 2-for-3 with an RBI for Wheeling.