Palatine shaping up to be a powerful host

Palatine doesn't have much to worry about since it is automatically in the American Legion state tournament as the host.

The Blue Jays aren't showing any complacency, however. They are 10-2 overall and 8-1-1 in Cook County play going into this weekend's Moline tournament.

"Everybody's contributing," said Palatine coach Jeff Ryder.

Matt Johnsen didn't get a lot of chances to hit this spring at Fremd. But he's been a force in the cleanup spot with a 3-run homer on a 3-0 pitch in an 8-1 win over Wilmette and seventh-inning, bases-loaded double in a 7-6 win over Morton Grove.

"He's just hitting everything he sees right now," Ryder said of a game where the Blue Jays were a strike away from a 6-4 loss with no one on base.

One of the keys to the comeback from a 6-2 deficit was a solid 4-inning relief stint from Joey DePaolis.

"It was good for us to see what he can do on the mound," Ryder said.

Sean Stutzman and Johnsen took care of Evanston 8-2 as Nick Addison hit 2 homers. Clint Terry improved to 4-0 with 11 strikeouts in 6 innings against Wilmette.

Palatine should also be getting some help soon with UIC-bound pitcher Mike Schoolcraft and shortstop Ryan Shober expected back soon from injuries.

Pitching in for Elk Grove: Elk Grove is getting a bunch of boosts on the mound as it improved to 11-6-1 overall and 6-5-1 in Cook County by beating Glenview 2-0 and 7-2 Wednesday.

In the opener, Walt Wijas, Chris Hoffman and Dave Compitello combined on a 4-hitter. The Kentucky-bound Wijas threw 3 hitless innings with 5 strikeouts in his first appearance for Elk Grove.

"He looked good," said Elk Grove coach Brian Mucha, who said he'll have Wijas full-time since he left another summer team he was playing for. "His off-speed stuff and slider looked really good. They weren't getting good swings off him at all."

Hoffman allowed only 2 hits in 3 innings and has been pitching better in a series of 2- and 3-inning outings. Hoffman threw 2 hitless innings to save a 4-3 win for Derek Wojcik over Mount Prospect.

"He hasn't allowed a run in a week and he's definitely picked it up," Mucha said.

Eric Walantas went the distance in Game 2 even though he hadn't pitched in 10 days.

Mucha said Donny Duschinsky will also be available for a start Saturday in Moline. And Mucha said offensively the Red Sox "are starting to come around a little bit."

Too many giveaways: Letting winnable games slip away has been an area plaguing Arlington. It lost a 9-1 lead to finish in a 10-10 Cook County tie with Evanston and both of its losses in a 3-2 finish at the Champaign tournament were by 1 run.

"We played pretty well in the tournament but we've just been giving away too many runs," said Arlington coach Lloyd Meyer. "Hopefully we can turn that around.

"Our defense still hasn't been up to par and we're making too many throwing errors. We're always giving away runs on walks, hit batters or errors and you can't win close games that way."

Meyer did like the pitching of Teddy Metzger in a 1-0 loss to Moline and John Coen in a 4-3 loss to Champaign. Meyer also said Jon Carlson looked pretty good in a 5-inning stint against St. Charles despite 8 walks in a tight strike zone and Jack Mullenix had a solid 5-inning outing last week.

"We've hit pretty well," Meyer said. "Even against Moline, we hit a lot of good shots right at people."

Arlington will be at the Moline tournament this weekend.

Finally in the "W" column: There has been a definite correlation between Mount Prospect's struggles to get its roster in place and have success on the field.

But everything finally fell into place Wednesday as Prospect beat Evanston 7-2 for its first win behind a complete game from Alex Czubak.

"The guys really jelled," said Prospect coach Bill Starr. "Alex did a great job and it was just a great ballgame.

"Alex was just cool and you couldn't shake him. His change and curve mixed in beautifully with his fastball and he really put it all together."

Czubak was backed by errorless defense and a strong game behind the plate from Garrett Cannizzo. Mike Hepner homered and Steve Zimmerman broke up a 3-2 game with a seventh-inning grand slam.

"It was a great game to coach and watch," Starr said. "The team really came together."

Prospect also got a nice addition in Buffalo Grove standout James Hurley, who went the distance in a 4-3 loss to Elk Grove. This weekend Prospect is at a tournament in Waukegan.

Barrington heads into home stretch: Barrington also suffered some tough losses as it fell to 7-5 overall and 6-2 in the 10th District. A 1-3 finish in its Mid-Summer Classic could have easily been reversed with lost seventh-inning leads as it fell 3-2 to Morton Grove and 5-4 to Crystal Lake.

But the positives were solid outings from Jackson Lundmark and Chris Rogers and 5 innings of 1-hit relief from Jake Broughton in a 6-0 loss to tourney champion Hammond (Ind.).

"We're really doing some nice things and I'm excited for the future with what we have," said Barrington coach Pat Wire of the team ERA below 3.00.

Wire said Chris Holke, Bryan Grabowski and David Alameda are the hottest hitters as Barrington nears the end of the 10th District regular-season schedule. The finale is Monday against Zion as Wire is hoping to get a top-two seed in the postseason tourney.

Wire is also hoping to get Robby McDonnell and Sean Buchholz back soon as well. The two senior-to-be pitchers were invited to try out for the prestigious Area Code Games.

"I'm happy for them but in the same token our team takes a hit," Wire said of losing two players from the 18-man roster. "It becomes really difficult - not that I'm complaining because the opportunities for these guys are fantastic for them and I know other teams in the district are clearly in the same boat."