South Elgin comeback eliminates Dundee-Crown

The South Elgin baseball team hadn't won a postseason game before Thursday.

So adding a little suspense wasn't a big deal.

The Storm rallied from a 4-run deficit to beat Dundee-Crown, 6-5, in the Class 4A Dundee-Crown regional semifinals for its first postseason victory in its four-year history.

"It feels good after the third try," said Storm senior Drew Buddle, a three-year varsity player. "We started hitting around and got a win."

South Elgin (19-14), the No. 1 seed, entered the game with a seven-game losing streak and found itself down 5-1 after Scott Nowicke's 3-run home run in the top of the fifth inning.

The Storm responded with 3 runs in the bottom of the fifth to get back within 1, 5-4. Jake Toppel, Buddle and Kyle Kinyon all had RBI singles in the inning. Toppel's and Kinyon's hits were bloops to shallow right field, a common occurrence off Chargers starter Mike Lodi (5-6).

"(Lodi) was crushing the outside corners with sliders," Storm coach Jim Kating said. "Unless he hangs it, and he doesn't hang too many, it's tough to try to pull it."

Buddle (4-2), who picked up the win in relief, quickly pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the sixth to get the Storm right back up to bat. Dan Hiene hit a pinch-hit double to lead off the bottom of the sixth. He advanced to third on a throwing error and scored on an Anthony Keaty groundout. After a flyout, Robbie Green tripled to left field. Toppel then singled again to right to bring in Green for the go-ahead run.

"I was just looking to hack right away," Toppel said. "I didn't want to get down in the count."

The fourth-seeded Chargers (13-23-1), who upset South Elgin last season in the regional semifinals, got two runners on with two outs in the top of the seventh, but a flyout from Kirk Hanselmann ended the game. Tyler Gross drove in D-C's first 2 runs with a single in the fourth.

"You can't go three weeks of not finishing baseball games and then get into the playoffs and all of the sudden finish," Chargers coach Jon Sawyer said. "There's no magic switch you can flip and say, 'Now we're going to do it.' "

Buddle pitched the final 21/3 innings after relieving Sam Jordt, who allowed 5 runs in 41/3 innings. Buddle allowed just 1 hit.

Lodi gave up 6 runs and 10 hits. He walked two and struck out five.