Streamwood downs Bartlett in home run derby

While cars streamed into Bartlett High School for Monday night's staging of the 80th Annual Fox Valley Music Festival, the baseball teams from Bartlett and Streamwood were staging a revival of "Gone with the Wind."

With a stiff breeze blowing straight out to center field, the Hawks and Sabres launched 3 home runs apiece in the Upstate Eight Conference game's first three and a half innings.

The wind died midway through the game, however, and pitching took the spotlight. Streamwood sophomore Josh Harris (3-2) held Bartlett scoreless in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings, then reliever Brian Domokos came in with one out in the seventh and escaped a first-and-third jam to preserve a 10-6 Streamwood victory.

"I was trying to get my ball down, and it helped that we had a lot of offense today because it's not many times you can give up 6 runs and still get a win," Harris said.

Streamwood (8-7-2, 6-3), which last week notched wins against UEC heavyweights Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley, collected 13 hits, 6 of which went for extra bases. Seven of nine Sabres in the order hit safely, and those same seven of nine scored at least once.

"It's just a team effort right now," Sabres coach Steve Diversey said. "The top (of the order) is coming through, the bottom's coming through, the middle's coming through. That's what it's about - one game at a time. Building confidence slowly has kind of been our motto. We don't look past anybody."

Streamwood jumped to a 2-0 lead right away against Bartlett starting pitcher Mike Tomsovic (4-2). Ryan Kiesel led off with a windblown triple to the wall in right center, and Matt Korntved knocked him in with a run-scoring single. Cleanup man Harris then homered to stake himself to a 2-0 lead.

Bartlett (10-7, 5-4) stormed back with a 4-run first inning. The big blow was a 3-run shot by Erik Lira.

The Sabres answered immediately. Sophomore catcher Tim Cohen tied the game 4-4 with a 2-run home run.

"If you hit the ball hard, it was going today," Cohen said. "It was nice. You can't complain."

Later in the inning, Brian Brauer singled home Shawn Jordan to retake the lead, 5-4. Jordan made it 7-4 in the third inning with a 2-run single.

Again, the Hawks battled back. Greg Partyka and Lira each smacked solo homers in the third to slice the deficit to 7-6, but Harris hit a 2-run blast off Tomsovic in the fourth to stretch the Streamwood lead to 9-6. Tim Cohen knocked in another run in the sixth with a single.

"It's going to happen," Bartlett coach Chris Pemberton said of the home runs. "On warm days if you get your pitches up in the zone, they're going to travel... It seemed like when they were up the wind was blowing out, and when we we're up the wind dies. Maybe it's the dome-operator here or something."

Domokos relieved Harris with one out and the sixth and used his slider to get a strikeout and a groundball to strand two Hawks on base.