Wednesday's Fox Valley roundup
Fox Valley area baseball has a new all-time home run king, and his name is Brian Brauer.
The senior cracked his 15th home run of the season, a 3-run shot, in the fourth inning of the Sabres' 11-0 Upstate Eight Conference win over St. Charles East Wednesday.
Brauer's 15 home runs surpass the previous record of 14, held since 1999 by Jason Richardson of Larkin. Brauer is now tied with seven players for 26th place on the state's single-season home run list, according to IHSA records.
It was the middle infielder's first homer in a week.
"Brian has been pressing for the last week because when you hit that many you can go in a drought, you kind of try to force it," Streamwood coach Steve Diversey said. "It's hard because people start pitching around you. He finally sat back and drilled a ball to left center for a 3-run shot. You could see the confidence after he finally got that one."
Brauer finished the afternoon 3-for-3 with 6 RBI, raising his season average to .531. Tim Cohen and Josh Harris also homered for Streamwood (17-13-2, 15-9).
Junior pitcher Mike Diebold pitched all 5 innings for, allowing just 2 hits and striking out five without a walk.
Elgin 8, Lake Park 3: The Maroons put together back-to-back wins for the first time this season, powered by senior Tom Roth's 4-for-5, 3-RBI performance in the Upstate Eight. Dan Schmerber added 2 hits, including a double, Adam Jazwiec recorded 3 hits and Tyler Loiseau (1-3) gave up 5 hits in 4 innings to earn the victory for Elgin (3-26, 3-21).
Larkin 9, Waubonsie Valley 5: Scott Harm and Jon Meidel each homered twice and Joe Stace doubled to lead the Royals to an Upstate Eight win in Elgin. Luc Geier (6-2) held the Warriors to 6 hits in 6 innings to get the win for Larkin (18-16, 13-10).
St. Charles North 7, South Elgin 4: Drew Buddle had a hit and 2 RBI, but two North Stars pitchers held the Storm to 5 hits overall in an Upstate Eight contest in St. Charles. Reliever Jake Toppel took the loss in relief of Sam Jordt for South Elgin (15-15-1, 12-11-1)
Jacobs 6, Crystal Lake South 5: Trailing 5-2, the Golden Eagles scored twice in the sixth inning and twice in the seventh to post a Fox Valley Conference (Valley) victory in Algonquin. John Amann and Josh Kranz homered and Ben Albano and Kevin Olson doubled for Jacobs (14-20, 6-8). Gavin Meyer doubled for CL South (20-12, 8-6).
Cary-Grove 11, Dundee-Crown 4: The Trojans' 13-hit attack paved the way to victory in a Fox Valley Conference (Valley) win in Carpentersville. Eric Chandler, Luke Mottashed, Chris Waylock and Corey Bruns each went 2-for-3, and pitcher Stuart Gaulke allowed just 3 earned runs in 5 innings to earn the win for Cary-Grove (25-7-1, 12-2).
Chris Liefel went 2-for-3 with 2 solo home runs and Jake Romano homered and drove in a pair for Dundee-Crown (6-21, 3-11).
Hampshire 9, Aurora Central Catholic 8: Junior Ryan Burke went 2-for-4 with a double and a home run and Ryan DeChant doubled twice and drove in a run in a nonconference home victory. Kent Larson (9-2) entered the game in relief and held the Chargers to 1 earned run in 4 innings to notch the win for Hampshire (18-12). Both teams made 6 errors.