State Legion field loaded with powerhouses
There won't be any free passes out of the American Legion baseball state tournament at Recreation Park in Arlington Heights.
The six-team, double-elimination tournament which starts today is loaded with quality and teams with gaudy records. Whoever emerges Saturday with a title will have earned it - along with the berth in the Great Lakes Regional in Appleton, Wis.
Elk Grove (26-11) makes its first appearance at 11 a.m. against Rock Island (26-4). Seven-time state champion Barrington (18-9) meets defending champ Belleville (30-3) at 3 p.m. and host Palatine (21-7) faces Mattoon (34-2) at 7 p.m.
Elk Grove is armed and ready with Cook County MVP Chris Hoffman (6-3, 3.41 ERA) starting the opener with Derek Wojcik (7-1, 1.55) and Kentucky-bound Walt Wijas (2-2) ready to follow.
"Winning every game in the tournament should give us some confidence," said Elk Grove coach Brian Mucha. "But everyone knows momentum can stop in one day."
Elk Grove started building its momentum late in the season with its second-place finish at the Gopher Classic in Minnesota.
Catcher Tony Logli (. 364), Colin Semler (. 341, 3 homers, 36 RBI), Chris D'Angelo (. 355, 26 RBI), Tim Massat (. 345) and Bradley-bound shortstop Dave Compitello (. 341) lead a lineup that doesn't rely on one big bat.
Rock Island has solid pitching led by Justin Hauer (5-hitter in a 3-2 win in the Third Division tourney), Jacob Sharp (4-hit shutout with 11 strikeouts) and MVP Mark Van Natta. Shortstop and cleanup man Danny O'Neiil was 9-for-17 with 7 RBI in the tourney.
"We know how good they are," said Mucha, whose team beat Rock Island the last two years but didn't play them in July in the rain-shortened Moline tourney. "They've always had solid hitting. They're a pretty quick team and they play the game the right way."
Barrington makes its first state appearance since 1998 and is after its first title since 1995.
"We've been playing good defense, pitching well and coming up with timely hitting and that's been our story," said first-year Barrington coach Pat Wire.
And the pitching in the Second Division title was done without Sean Buchholz and Robby McDonnell. Wire hopes to have both this week but also has plenty of solid arms in Tom Unak (5-1, 1.96), Tyler Tureck (5-1, 1.73), Chris Rogers (2.33, 4 saves) and Brendon Schumacher.
The offense led by Evansville-bound catcher Johnny Day (. 535) has succeeded with what Wire called "genuine old-school team baseball." Chris Holke and Bryan Grabowski have 19 and 18 RBI, respectively, Derek Foderaro is at .327 and Jim Cook at .315.
Third baseman Mitch Matecki, who started as a freshman at Southern Illinois-Edwardsville, leads a talented lineup with outfielders Luke Matecki and Joe Bendick and Kane Sweeney.
"We'll have our hands full," Wire said. "We'll play hard and if we're good enough we'll get it done."
Palatine will be trying for its first state title since 1989 and finished second as the host in 2004. Lefty Matt Johnsen will start tonight with lefty Clint Terry ready to pitch Game 2.
"Hopefully we learned a couple of lessons this past week," Palatine coach Jeff Ryder said of two tough 1-run losses in the Cook County tourney despite 37 hits. "We got a lot of pitchers in. We have so many different guys who can throw right now and they didn't overpitch."
And pitchers will be challenged by Palatine's diverse lineup which includes UIC center fielder Nick Addison leading off, Bradley-bound outfielder Mike Tauchman, Johnsen and shortstop Ryan Shober, who is transferring to UIC from Valparaiso.
"We're hitting the ball well one through nine," Ryder said. "Our 7-8-9 (Eric Paulson, Joey DePaolis and Tyler Gregory) are hitting really well right now.
"We're ready to go and we know this is what we've been building for all year."
Mattoon has built an amazing 29-game winning streak to reach the state tourney. Fourth Division MVP Chase Louthan had 7 hits and Shane Hood won twice, including 3-2 for the title on a 4-hitter.