Carlson, Mustangs rise to top of MSL

Getting creamed on Saturday afternoon felt a lot better to Jon Carlson than it did a year ago.

The Rolling Meadows senior left-hander wasn't sure which of his teammates blasted him in the face with shaving cream after the Mid-Suburban League baseball championship game.

But Carlson, the East Division player of the year, didn't mind after throwing a 7-hitter as Meadows added to its MSL record of baseball titles with its 11th in a 5-0 win over visiting Fremd.

"It feels great after getting a second chance," Carlson said of getting knocked out in the third inning of last year's 11-1 title-game loss in 5 innings to Schaumburg. "We didn't accomplish it last year and we really wanted it this year."

The Kentucky-bound Carlson (7-1) threw 69 of his 121 pitches for strikes and finished with 9 strikeouts and 3 walks in his second shutout. His fastball consistently hit 86 to 88 mph on the radar gun and he hit 90 when he worked out of a bases-loaded jam in the sixth.

"He threw great and he's a tough pitcher," said Fremd senior lefty Matt Johnsen, who had a triple and a single and trailed only 1-0 until Meadows scored 3 two-out runs in the fifth.

"We've known all season if we can score 1 or 2 runs around Jonny," said Meadows senior first baseman Pat Conlin, "he's going to keep us in the game if not win it for us."

Meadows (18-14) won its first title since 2000 by scoring 4 two-out runs and getting 2 hits apiece from Conlin, sophomore third baseman Kyle Krzeski and center fielder Ben Kamperschroer at the bottom of the order. Teddy Metzger and Owen Stiff also had 2 hits apiece.

Kamperschroer threw out a runner trying for third and made two nice catches. Krzeski threw out a runner trying to score in the third after Johnsen's leadoff triple.

"If we can play like that we'll be all right," said Meadows coach Jim Lindeman, who got nailed with an ice-water shower from Stiff and Dan Wenzel. "The bottom part of the lineup really came through for us."

As did Carlson after a pair of starts where he wasn't as sharp as he had been all spring.

Fremd (19-10) won the regular-season meeting where Carlson didn't pitch 4-2 and had a chance to score first on Zenon Kolakowski's two-out single with runners at first at second in the third. But umpires ruled Chris Doloughty didn't cross home plate before Kamperschroer nailed the speedy Todd Dunham at third.

"They're a really good-hitting team and they showed it the whole year," Carlson said of Fremd. "They came out swinging and had some hard-hit balls but luckily my 'D' came out and played great."

And Lindeman called it a "monster break" when Fremd was called for interference to erase a bad throw on a sacrifice bunt attempt which would have put runners at first and third with no outs in the fifth.

Dunham used his jets for a rare two-out bunt double between third and shortstop to put runners at second and third, but Carlson ended the threat with a popout.

"We had some good at-bats off a very, very good pitcher," said Fremd coach Chris Piggott. "I'm happy with how we played and I told them they have nothing to hang their heads about. They lost to an excellent pitcher."

Meadows got the only run it needed in the third when Carlson grounded into a bases-loaded double play. West Division player of the year Mike Tauchman saved another run with a spectacular running catch in deep right-center field.

Johnsen (6-2) escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the fourth and got the first two hitters in the fifth. But after Stiff's single and a walk to Will Trunk, Conlin dropped an RBI single inside the right-field line on an 0-2 pitch.

"I've been struggling pretty badly at the plate lately," said Conlin, who also had a bad-hop RBI single with two out in the sixth, "but I've had a lot of help from my coaches to try to get my swing back. They've been saying, 'Go to right field, go to right field.'"

Krzeski lined an RBI single to center and Kamperschroer lined an RBI single to right for a 4-0 lead.

"I had my stuff but I just got the short end of it today," Johnsen said.

And Meadows was able to enjoy being on the right end of the scoreboard one year later.

"That left a real bad taste in our mouths," said Conlin, who missed last year's title game because of injury. "We wanted to come out and show we can play with the best teams in our (division) and the other (division)."