Wednesday's Fox Valley roundup
Bartlett 3, South Elgin 2: Bartlett won an Upstate Eight Conference pitchers duel in South Elgin behind 62/3 innings of 6-hit ball from Devin Rowland (4-2). He bested hard-luck loser Sam Jordt, who allowed only 4 hits and 2 earned runs in 7 innings.
Sophomore Ryan Yore doubled and drove in 2 runs in the second inning and senior David Palma drove in the eventual game-winner with a double in the fourth for Bartlett (11-7, 6-4). Brandon Stevens went 2-for-4 for South Elgin (7-9-1, 4-4-1).
St. Charles East 5, Larkin 4: The Royals outhit the Saints 11-10, but host St. Charles East pushed a run across in the bottom of the seventh to prevail in Upstate Eight Conference play. Reid Ellis went 3-for-4 with a double, 2 RBI and a stolen base, and Luc Geier and Carlos Rojo each finished 2-for-3 for Larkin (12-11, 7-5).
East Aurora 1, Elgin 0: In the Upstate Eight, the visiting Tomcats scored once in the top of the sixth inning to defeat Elgin senior Tom Roth and keep the Maroons (0-14, 0-9) out of the win column. Roth pitched 7 innings, struck out 14 and gave up just 2 hits, but an Elgin error led to the unearned run. Dan Okapal allowed only 3 hits in a complete-game effort for East Aurora.
Dundee-Crown 4, Crystal Lake South 1: Junior Zach Vodicka pitched a complete-game 5-hitter to lead the Chargers to an upset in the Fox Valley Conference's Valley Division. "Vodicka pitched a great game, and we played a great game behind him," first-year D-C coach Jon Sawyer said.
Senior Chris Leifel hit a solo home run, sophomore Kirk Hanselmann hit a 2-run shot and freshman Jake Romano went 2-for-3 for Dundee-Crown (4-13, 1-2). The Gators slipped to (13-8, 1-2).
Cary-Grove 9, Woodstock 3: Stuart Gaulke held the Blue Streaks to 4 hits in 5 innings of a Fox Valley Conference (Valley Division) victory in Cary. Gaulke, Luke Mottashed and Nick Hammonds each doubled for the Trojans (15-6-1, 2-1).
Huntley 6, Grayslake Central 4: SIU-bound senior pitcher Tanner Funke (5-1) tossed a complete-game 6-hitter in a key Fox Valley (Fox) road win for the Red Raiders. Funke was touched for 4 earned runs, but he walked only one Ram and struck out 14. Craig Lipp went 3-for-4 with 3 runs scored, and Chris Klein finished 2-for-2 to lead the offensive attack for Huntley (16-3-1, 3-0)
Burlington Central 12, Marengo 0: Sophomore Nick Hahn threw 5 shutout innings to improve to 6-0, and sophomore Sam Klein went 4-for-4 with a grand slam and 6 RBI to lead the Rockets to a road win in the Big Northern-East. Junior catcher Austin Jarvis finished 2-for-4 and drove in a pair, while junior Zack Romando went 3-for-3 with a double and RBI for Central (11-5, 4-0).
Westminster Christian 4, St. Francis 0: Senior Brandon Siewert (5-2) and two more pitchers combined to shut out the Spartans in a nonconference victory in Elgin. Chadd Schroy tripled and freshman Ryan Perez went 2-for-3 with a double to lead the Warriors (13-7).
Montini 7, St. Edward 0: David Hoebbel and Riley Coleman each finished 2-for-3 with a double, but the Green Wave managed just 1 other hit in a Suburban Catholic Conference loss in Lombard. The Green Wave (12-10, 5-4) committed 4 errors.