Palatine takes an aggressive approach

Palatine would rather not take the two-and-out route to American Legion baseball state tournament success again.

Five years ago the Blue Jays finished second as the state host after going 0-2 in the Cook County tourney.

They have no pressure to get into the state tourney since they're hosting it next week. But they would like to put more heat on the other teams when the Cook County tourney begins today.

"We don't want to do that again," Palatine coach Jeff Ryder said. "Our defense and pitching is real solid and if it's all clicking we should be all right.

"Our boys are definitely ready to go after it."

Top-seed Arlington (24-9) will start its quest for its fifth straight County title and 11th in the last 12 years when it hosts No. 9 Portage Park at Rec Park in today's 4 p.m. openers.

No. 2 Palatine (19-5) hosts No. 7 Morton Grove at Fremd, No. 5 Elk Grove (21-11) is at No. 4 Glenview and No. 6 Wilmette is at No. 3 Northbrook. Wednesday's games also will be hosted by the higher seeds. The final three days of the double-elimination tourney will be at Rec Park, with the championship scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday.

"It's been more balanced this year than the past three years I've been here," said Elk Grove coach Brian Mucha.

Arlington usually peaks at this point, but coach Lloyd Meyer's concerns include pitching depth for the grind of nine-inning games. He wasn't sure who would start today but can choose from veterans Brendan King, Kentucky-bound Jon Carlson and Teddy Metzger.

"We're probably playing a little better defensively, but we're still making baserunning mistakes and we're probably not as ready as we usually are," Meyer said. "We've been hitting pretty good but good pitching stops good hitting."

Ryder wasn't sure of his pitching plans with Fremd and Palatine still alive in the high school summer league tourney. The return of shortstop Ryan Shober from a back injury solidified the lineup and allowed Ryder to move Eric Paulson to third and Joey DePaolis to second.

Elk Grove, which took second last year, had an impressive run a week ago in the Gopher Classic before losing the title game in the Metrodome. Chris Hoffman will start today with Derek Wojcik and Kentucky-bound Walt Wijas forming a solid rotation.

"Our guys are pretty confident," Mucha said. "I think these guys are ready."

Barrington makes Second Division: Barrington (15-9) has followed a simple mantra en route to its first 10th District title since 1998 and a berth in the Second Division tourney starting Thursday at Wheaton.

It all started with a top-four finish in the 56-team Bloomington tourney and carried over to a 4-0 finish last week in the 10th District tourney.

"That tournament in Bloomington was really key for us," said first-year coach Pat Wire. "We came together as a team and ultimately said there were certain areas we didn't want any team to beat us in.

"It carried over - heart and hustle."

Barrington used a 5-run fifth to beat Deerfield for the 10th District title 7-4. Tom Unak continued his consistent pitching with a 7-2 win over Libertyville and Sean Buchholz and Robby McDonnell won the first two games.

Evansville-bound Johnny Day has provided a big boost by hitting better than .600 in his last 45 at-bats. Unak, Bryan Grabowski and Chris Holke have provided the foundation of experience.

Barrington will try to avenge a 5-4 loss to Crystal Lake at 1 p.m. Thursday in the Second Division opener. Ottawa, Fulton and host Wheaton also are in the five-team double-elimination tourney.

"It's a great story," Wire said. "The kids have really come together as a team and have played really hard."