Latal provides thunder for Fremd

Fremd was two outs away from a loss that could have damaged its Mid-Suburban West baseball title hopes when the school’s lightning detector sounded Thursday afternoon in Palatine.

That delayed a tremendous pitcher’s duel between Barrington’s Frank Waliczek and Fremd’s Kurt Kaufman.

But after a nearly 45-minute wait, Fremd’s Jimmy Latal produced some serious thunder with a 2-run homer to center field for a dramatic 2-1 victory.

Kaufman (3-1) threw a 4-hitter with 13 strikeouts and 2 walks as Fremd (14-11, 9-4) moved a half-game ahead of Palatine (18-12, 8-4), which lost 7-4 in 8 innings at Schaumburg. Fremd hosts Palatine at 4:30 p.m. today.

After the delay ended, Clint Herdegen reached on an error. Latal, who missed nearly three weeks early in the season with a concussion, hit a 1-1 pitch for his second homer of the year.

“We gradually worked him back in and he’s been hitting the ball well,” said Fremd coach Chris Piggott of Latal, who also had a double.

Waliczek threw a 4-hitter with 9 strikeouts and 2 walks for Barrington (5-23, 4-9).

“He was doing a real good job of mixing up his pitches,” Piggott said. “He wasn’t overpowering with his fastball but he throws a lot of off-speed and when he sneaks the fastball by you he’s tough to hit.

“I feel bad for him because he pitched a great game.”

So did Kaufman as the only run he gave up was in the fourth on a bases-loaded walk to Jake Broughton.

“This was the best he’s pitched all year,” Piggott said. “He really had his off-speed stuff working today.”

Schaumburg 7, Palatine 4 (8 inn.): Matt Brancato tied the game with a two-out RBI single in the seventh and Schaumburg (13-6, 6-5) scored 3 two-out runs in the eighth in the MSL West win.

A single by Mark Bielanski, who also homered, started the eighth. After a sacrifice and a groundout, Ryan Hayes had an RBI single and Roger Lane hit a 2-run homer to right-center to keep the Saxons a game behind Fremd and Palatine in the loss column.

“He’s been hitting the ball in the 9-hole so I don’t want to move him out of there,” said Schaumburg coach Paul Groot of Lane, who went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI.

Kurt Kempema got the victory with 2 innings of relief in a game which had a 45-minute lightning delay while David Schalla went the distance for Palatine (18-12, 8-4).

Palatine was looking to extend a seven-game winning streak and took a 4-3 lead with a 4-run third where Kurt Becker and Joe Walsh had RBI singles and Dan Haze had a sacrifice fly.

Elk Grove 9, Wheeling 3: The Grenadiers (14-10, 7-5) stayed alive in the MSL East race as they rallied from a 3-1 deficit with 4-run innings in the fifth and sixth.

Blake Cavins homered, Ryan Martinski went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and Jack Czeszewski and Kevin Kaczynski had 2 hits apiece for the Grenadiers, who are 3 games behind Prospect (19-5, 10-2) with four to play. Martinski got the victory with 3 strikeouts in 4 innings.

Peter Durbin homered for Wheeling (5-15, 2-10).

Hoffman Estates 3, Conant 2 (5 inn.): Mark Roberts (4-6) tossed 5 innings of 6-hit ball and struck out five with 1 walk as the host Hawks prevailed in an MSL West game cut short by threatening weather.

Kevin Tednes drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the first inning for Hoffman (13-14, 6-7). In the fourth, the Hawks took the lead when Ethan Bloom led off with a solo homer and Riley Mugerditchian came up with a two-out run-scoring single.

Kevin Grudzinski went 2-for-3 with a run scored for Hoffman. Zach Losch and Nick Fillmore doubled for Conant (4-17, 3-10).

Hersey 7, Buffalo Grove 4 (5 inn.): Winning pitcher Trevor Haas went 2-for-2 with 5 RBI as host Hersey (14-12, 7-6) won the MSL East game that was called in the bottom of the fifth.

Haas had a pair of 2-run singles and a sacrifice fly. Tyler Perkowitz went 3-for-3.

Jimmy Pinakidis and Andrew Van Wazer had 2 hits for Buffalo Grove (11-13, 6-6).

Leyden 8, Downers North 7: Leyden (24-2) rallied from a 4-0 deficit to win the West Suburban Conference crossover as Nick Dimaso (2-for-4) hit a 2-run homer, Adrian Ruiz went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI and John Marino doubled and had 2 RBI.

Leyden is at Lyons in a big WSC crossover doubleheader on Saturday.

Notre Dame 5, Meadows 1 (6 inn.): Matt Hendricks drove in the only run for Rolling Meadows (12-11) in a game called after six innings.