Elk Grove ends Schaumburg’s streak

Elk Grove senior right-hander Mike D’Angelo definitely had the “D” working for him Monday afternoon.

That included a pair of impressive “Ks” of sorts from teammate Jack Czeszewski in center field.

D’Angelo had only 1 strikeout but was backed by flawless defense that was spectacular at crucial times. He threw a 4-hitter as Elk Grove (7-6, 2-1) held on for a 2-1 Mid-Suburban League crossover victory to end an 8-game winning streak for visiting Schaumburg (8-2, 2-1).

“I had a good feeling and I wanted to go out and throw strikes,” D’Angelo said after doing that with 47 of his 72 pitches in a game that took just an hour and 37 minutes. “I knew my teammates would play good defense behind me. The defense played amazing today.”

Czeszewski, the junior who verbally committed to Illinois State last week, put on a show with his left arm. Mike Pietritis singled for Schaumburg’s first hit as it loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth.

Jordan Grubb hit a sacrifice fly to Czeszewski but he fired a strike to third baseman Michael Anciulis to nail Pietritis.

“I was thinking three the whole way since we were up by two,” Czeszewski said. “I heard their coach (Paul Groot) say ‘You’ve got to get to three,’ so I knew I was going three the whole way.”

Tom Byrne singled with one out in the Schaumburg sixth and took second on Dave Geller’s groundout. Mark Bielanski singled to center and Czeszewski made a perfect one-hop throw to catcher Ryan Daubenspeck to nail Byrne.

“That’s a big-time throw — knee-high, too,” Groot said.

“Jack saved me,” D’Angelo said.

“It’s do-or-die,” Czeszewski said. “You have to save the game and do what you can to help the team.”

Daubenspeck also made a skidding, juggling grab of a foul pop at the backstop and backed up an errant double-play relay at first to get the runner trying for second. That helped preserve a 2-0 lead after Anciulis’ two-out RBI double in the second and an unearned run in the third after 2 of Schaumburg’s 3 errors.

Schaumburg junior Pat Bellinger scattered 5 hits and a perfect throw from right fielder Colin Bethran to the plate on Joe Piscopo’s single prevented Elk Grove from adding to its lead in the fifth.

Matt Brancato singled to start the Schaumburg seventh and Pietritis hit a liner off D’Angelo’s glove. Shortstop Ryan Martinski charged in and made a barehand pickup and throw to get Pietritis by a step.

“That was a big-league play,” said Elk Grove coach Terry Beyna.

Brancato took third on Jeremy Hall’s groundout to first. Grubb fouled off four 1-2 pitches before D’Angelo finally ended it with a popup to Martinski.

“I liked the way our kids battled,” Groot said.

“I was mentally locked in,” said D’Angelo, who had only 1 walk and improved to 2-1. “I was so focused on throwing strikes I didn’t want to walk him.”