Undefeated Streamwood nips South Elgin
One of the most memorable games of the 2010 high school baseball season was the battle for the Class 4A Dundee-Crown regional championship, a contest Streamwood led 12-2 lead only to see South Elgin rally for 11 unanswered runs to win 13-12.
Tuesday’s Upstate Eight Conference rematch featured its own brand of thrills, but this time the rally hats were worn by Streamwood.
The Sabres came back from deficits of 3-0 and 6-3 and eventually won 7-6 on Zack Bucher’s bases-loaded, seeing-eye single to right field with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning.
The come-from-behind, extra-innings victory preserved a perfect record for Streamwood (11-0, 5-0). South Elgin slipped to 6-3-1, 1-2-1.
“I’m very proud of my team,” said Bucher, who hit ninth and went 2-for-4 with a double and a walk. “We battle back constantly. We know what happened with the regional game last year against these guys, and we weren’t going to let them get us down this time.”
The Streamwood rally began with two outs in the ninth against South Elgin reliever Eric Stazy, who had already thrown 5 scoreless innings in relief of starter Marty Knuth. Streamwood’s Brandon Larkin-Guilfoyle smashed a line drive off the wrist of Stazy’s glove hand, and the ball caromed into center field for a single.
Stazy remained on the ground in pain for a few minutes while a trainer attended to him. Then he suddenly asked for the ball.
“The next thing you know he snapped into his mode again and was back in his mode,” South Elgin coach Jim Kating said of his pitcher. “I don’t think I could have pulled him off with a John Deere tractor.”
Stazy stayed in the game, however, he hit the next two Streamwood hitters with pitches to load the bases for Bucher, who hit a 2-2 pitch the opposite way past a diving second baseman to score the winning run.
“I wanted to finish it,” Stazy said after the game with a huge ice pack straddling his wrist. “But I hit the next two people and, unfortunately, they got a basehit.
“I just wanted to put the ball in play and, hopefully, get something done,” Bucher said.
Both teams had opportunities to win the game late. South Elgin put two runners on base in the fifth inning, but Streamwood catcher Nick Pryor threw out each runner trying to steal. He nailed 3 attempted basestealers overall.
Streamwood’s Patrick Manning doubled with one out in the sixth, but he was later nailed at the plate by a perfect relay throw from first baseman Andrew Weedman. South Elgin catcher Dan Heine threw out a runner trying to steal third to end the inning.
Each team stranded a runner at third base with two outs in the seventh. Streamwood stranded Bucher at second base in the eighth inning after he led off with double; South Elgin stranded Kenny Lowden in scoring position in the ninth after he singled with two outs and stole second. Richie Gorski (2-0) struck out South Elgin’s cleanup hitter with a changeup to end the threat.
“It was a crazy baseball game,” Streamwood coach Steve Diversey said. “The great thing is the bottom of our lineup is coming through for us. That’s a great hit for us out of a No. 9 hitter.”
“They’re a great ballclub. This was a battle. I’m glad we only play them one time now.”
South Elgin took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on 4 hits against Streamwood pitcher Blake Hunter, who allowed 6 runs on 9 hits 6 innings with 4 walks and 6 strikeouts.
Streamwood scored twice in the first inning and once in the second to tie the game 3-3, but the Storm took a 4-3 lead on Weedman’s bad-hop single in the third. South Elgin moved to a 6-3 lead in the fourth when 2 runs scored on Kenny Lowden’s single and an error.
Streamwood tied the game with a 3-run fourth, highlighted by run-scoring sacrifice flyballs from Patrick Manning and Gorski.