Fremd beats Meadows in MSL showdown

Fremd senior outfielder Ryan Polak wasted no time Thursday making up for five weeks of lost time with a broken right wrist.

Polak singled and had the go-ahead RBI double in the first 2 at-bats of his first start as Fremd (14-6, 8-2) won 4-2 at Rolling Meadows (12-11, 8-2) in a Mid-Suburban League baseball crossover between division leaders.

"I've been working hard on my swing to get it back," the left-handed hitting Polak said of his two hits to left-center. "The timing is hard to get back but I felt I did well adjusting."

Polak had his tiebreaking double in a 2-run fourth where Meadows botched two rundowns and committed its only error. Junior lefty Clint Terry scattered 8 hits and had 6 strikeouts and 2 walks in 6 innings as West-leading Fremd stayed a game ahead of Conant.

"I started off kind of shaky and was a little nervous," Terry said of Meadows knocking around Barrington's Sean Buchholz and Conant's Walt Wijas in its last two MSL wins. "I knew from the scouting report one through nine they're a great-hitting team. I came at them with the fastball and got ahead."

Terry, who also went 2-for-3, left the bases loaded in the fifth and stranded two runners in the sixth. Fremd scored its last two runs on Tyler Gregory's groundout in the fifth and Todd Dunham's two-out bunt, steals on consecutive pitches and an RBI single by Zenon Kolakowski (3-for-4) in the sixth.

"That was a big run at the end by Todd," said Fremd coach Chris Piggott. "He manufactured that run pretty much by himself."

Dan Lauria singled in Meadows' first run in the third and doubled to start the seventh off closer Mike Schoolcraft.

Center fielder Mike Tauchman made a leaping grab at the fence on a sacrifice fly by Teddy Metzger (3-for-3) and Jon Carlson singled but second baseman Eric Paulson made a diving backhanded stop for a game-ending force.

"We battled and we were ready to play," said Meadows coach Jim Lindeman, whose team has a two-game East lead on Hersey. "Fremd's a tough team and (Terry) is a good pitcher and they made all the plays.

"When they do that and you don't execute mentally you're not going to win."

Hersey 3, Barrington 2: A leaping catch by Barrington center fielder Anthony Brignola robbed Hersey's Pat Hyde of a sixth-inning grand slam but he still broke a 2-2 tie with a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning of the MSL crossover.

Hersey (13-11, 6-4) winner Chris James threw a 6-hitter and also homered. Alex Lee (2-for-2) had a game-tying RBI single in the fifth.

Gus Handler hit a 2-run homer in the fifth and Sean Buchholz had 10 strikeouts for Barrington (13-9, 5-5).

Conant 10, Prospect 6: Nolan Drake hit a solo homer and Nate Rahn and Mario Marrone had 2 RBI for Conant (15-7, 7-3) in the MSL crossover. Jason Leblebijian doubled and had 3 RBI for Prospect (10-13, 3-7).

Schaumburg 5, Elk Grove 1: Kyle Meyer (8-1) threw a 6-hitter with 4 strikeouts and 1 walk for Schaumburg (10-11, 4-6) in the MSL crossover win over Elk Grove (17-10, 4-6). Tim Massat was 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Saxons.

Palatine 8, BG 3: Winner Byron Skinner helped his cause with a 2-run homer in the fifth as Palatine (12-12, 6-4) won its eighth straight in the MSL crossover.

Cody Bobbit (2 RBI), Jim Smearman, Mike Luschen and Dan Haze had 2 hits apiece for the Pirates. Matt Stadler and J.P. Kulick had 2 hits for BG (9-13, 4-6).

St. Viator 3, Marist 0: Bryce Hensley scattered 5 hits, and Julian Sipiora blasted 3-run homer, his fifth, in the first inning in the East Suburban Catholic Conference game as host St. Viator (15-9, 5-5) won its sixth straight.

Hensley (4-3) struck out three and walked one, throwing 56 of his 94 pitches for strikes.

Maine West 18, Maine East 2: Tommy Ross went 3-for-3 with a triple to lead a 16-hit attack and Kane Hernandez threw 4 shutout innings for Maine West (16-6, 6-4) in the 5-inning Central Suburban North win.