Bellinger helps Schaumburg rebound
Patrick Bellinger got rolling early and Schaumburg’s offense followed suit midway through Thursday’s nonconference baseball game at Lake Park.
Bellinger gave up an RBI double to the second hitter but allowed only 1 hit the rest of the way as Schaumburg scored all of its runs in the last half of a 13-1 victory in Roselle.
Bellinger had 4 strikeouts as he threw only 68 pitches. He gave up his only walk to the first hitter he faced.
“He overmatched them,” said Schaumburg coach Paul Groot. “He threw the ball pretty well.”
Schaumburg (1-1) was shutout on 1 hit Wednesday and was scoreless Thursday until a 4-run fourth.
Mark Bielanski was 2-for-4 with a double and 3 RBI, Dave Geller went 3-for-3 with an RBI, Jeremy Hall was 2-for-4 and Matt Brancato hit a 2-run homer in a 6-run fifth.
Meadows 3, Maine West 0: Matt Dennis continued a trend that has been a big hit for Rolling Meadows.
Dennis became the team’s third starting pitcher to allow only 1 hit as the sophomore gave up just a third-inning single in Meadows’ (2-0) nonconference win.
Matt Hendricks gave up 1 hit in a 7-inning no-decision against York on Monday. Eric Lowe gave up his only hit Tuesday with two outs in the seventh against Maine East.
“That’ll work great if our starting pitchers throw like this,” said Meadows coach Jim Lindeman. “Hopefully this is a sign of good things to come.”
Dennis gave up a single to Ryan Ross but it was erased when Lowe turned an unassisted double play. Dennis relied on his fastball and curveball to throw 14 first-pitch strikes to 24 hitters as he finished with 7 strikeouts and 4 walks.
“He had pretty good command,” Lindeman said. “He made big pitches when he had to and we played pretty good defense behind him.”
Lindeman said that included a solid game from junior catcher Dan Larson. Hendricks had a 2-run double in the first and Meadows got an insurance run in the sixth on a double by Dennis, Tyler Gaedele’s sacrifice and a wild pitch.
Prospect 11, Bartlett 1: Prospect senior Kurt Donner had everything under control Thursday.
The right-hander allowed a run in the top of the first inning but nothing else the rest of the way for the Knights in their 11-1 nonconference baseball victory in six innings over visiting Bartlett.
Donner (2-0) scattered 4 singles, had 4 strikeouts and didn’t allow a walk.
“He was pounding the strike zone and going in and out,” said Prospect coach Ross Giusti. “He started to get his slider working, he got stronger as the game went on and the defense made some good plays for him.”
That included a couple of nice plays by first baseman Brad Coffman where Donner covered first to end potential scoring threats.
Prospect (4-0) gave Donner all the offensive support he needed with a 3-run first.
Matt Molini was 2-for-4 with a triple and 2 RBI, Steve Dazzo doubled twice with an RBI and Jack Landwehr went 2-for-4 with a double and an RBI. Shane Joyce and Ben Menich also doubled as the Knights had 12 hits and scored in double figures for the third time.
Buffalo Grove 12, Elgin 3: Kevin Dembinski and Jesus Sanchez combined to give BG (4-2) the nonconference win at Elgin. Dembinski went the first 4 innings and Sanchez had 2 strikeouts in 3 innings for the save.
Sanchez didn’t play the last two seasons and was on the “B” team as a freshman.
“He was outstanding,” said BG coach Jeff Grybash. “The kids were so excited for him.”
Elgin scored 3 runs in the second but a perfect relay from right fielder Richie Zirngibl to Jake Monson to Andrew Van Wazer for the third out prevented a potential triple and another run from scoring.
BG broke it open with an 8-run fourth.
Elk Grove 7, Deerfield 6: Carl Sugihara went 2-for-3 with a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the bottom of the sixth for Elk Grove (3-3).
Dan Guido (2-1) allowed 2 hits and no walks and had 3 strikeouts in 3 innings to get the victory. Jack Czeszewski also went 2-for-4 for the Grenadiers.
St. Viator 10, Palatine 7: Brian Wilhite went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, Brett Kay and Chris Myjak had 2 RBI and Nick Prazuch and Cosimo Cannella had 2 hits for host St. Viator (2-1).
Cody Bobbit and Joe Walsh homered for Palatine (1-5), which scored 4 runs in the top of the seventh.
Huntley 2, Hoffman 1: Hoffman Estates junior Mark Roberts was one out away from shutting out last year’s fourth-place finisher in Class 4A in the nonconference game at Huntley.
But a bloop double tied the game in the bottom of the seventh and a bloop single sent Roberts and Hoffman (0-4) to a tough-luck defeat.
Roberts threw a 4-hitter with 9 strikeouts and 3 walks. Sophomore Jimmy Ward homered for Hoffman in the fifth.