Warble, Cougars hit winning note

Conant sophomore left-hander Paul Warble minimized his mistakes and his teammates magnified those of Barrington on Wednesday afternoon.

Warble rebounded from a first-inning 2-run homer by Barrington's Chris Holke with 5 scoreless innings.

Visiting Conant took advantage of 10 walks, a hit batter and 4 errors to score in every inning after the first in a 13-2 victory to remain in a three-way tie for the Mid-Suburban West lead.

"We wanted to get started early," said Conant second baseman Bobby Colucci, who was 2-for-4 with a double, 3 RBI, 3 stolen bases and 4 runs. "In the Schaumburg game (3-2 loss Monday) we didn't get started early.

"We wanted to get out early and be aggressive."

Conant (17-8, 9-4) did that as it stole 6 bases and had baserunners in motion all game to remain in a tie with Palatine (16-12, 9-4) and Fremd (15-9, 9-4).

Warble (4-0) also stayed in the game for 6 innings after having to leave his start last Thursday with some elbow discomfort. He threw 58 of his 89 pitches for strikes as he scattered 6 hits and had 8 strikeouts and 2 walks.

"He was dealing," said Conant coach Jerry Song. "He was confident and he had his (slider) going really well.

"(Before the game) he said, 'Coach, I feel great.' He went after it a little bit and challenged hitters."

Warble missed his spot with an outside fastball on Holke's homer on an 0-2 count. He got out of his only other serious trouble in the fifth when shortstop Derek Wojcik turned an inning-ending double play with runners at first and third.

Colucci also made a leaping grab of a looping liner to leave a runner at second in the fourth as the Cougars didn't commit an error.

"I felt good," Warble said of icing and stretching out his elbow between starts. "I came in pretty confident because I had pitched against these guys before and I knew what they had with their hitters."

Colucci singled, stole 2 bases and scored on a bad throw to the plate for Conant's first run in the second. Barrington (15-10, 7-6) righty Sean Buchholz (3-4), who allowed 3 earned runs in 5 innings, retired the first two hitters in the third.

Wojcik (2-for-5) singled, Joe Belmonte (2-for-4) was hit by a pitch, Warble walked and Colucci then looped a double behind first base with a wild throw clearing the bases. Another steal and an error put Conant up 5-2.

"The bottom line is they answered with four with two outs and nobody on and we didn't close it out," said Barrington coach Jim Hawrysko. "They did everything they needed to do and that's exactly what the (final) score should be."

Sean Smith had an RBI single in the fifth and Mario Morrone had a 2-run single in a 4-run sixth for Conant, which visits Palatine at 4:30 p.m. Friday.

"(Schaumburg) was a tough loss," Colucci said. "But we know what we have to do and I think we can do it.

"We'll see with these three games left. It's going to be fun."

Palatine 3, Hoffman 0: Junior Byron Skinner allowed his only hit in the seventh inning as MSL West tri-leader Palatine (16-12, 9-4) extended its winning streak to 12 games at Hoffman Estates (7-20, 3-10).

Chris Fett's infield single spoiled Skinner's no-hit bid. The righty finished with 6 strikeouts and 2 walks.

Palatine took a 1-0 lead into the seventh. Jim Smearman doubled and had 2 RBI and Cody Bobbit and Mike Luschen went 2-for-4.

Fremd 15, Schaumburg 4: Mike Tauchman hit a pair of homers and winning pitcher Clint Terry and Zenon Kolakowski homered as MSL West tri-leader Fremd (15-9, 9-4) had 14 hits in the 6-inning victory.

Tauchman went 3-for-3 with 4 RBI and now has 6 homers. Kolakowski went 3-for-5 with 4 RBI and Todd Dunham (2 RBI), Tyler Gregory and Matt Johnsen went 2-for-4. Terry (5-2) had 6 strikeouts in 51/3 innings for the Vikings, who are at Hoffman on Friday.

Dave Compitello and Connor McHugh had 2 hits for Schaumburg (12-12, 6-7).