Elk Grove, Schaumburg tighten MSL races

A lot of things would have to go right in the final week for Elk Grove and Schaumburg to end up leading the Mid-Suburban League baseball races.

But the Grenadiers and Saxons did their part to make the races more compelling when they faced the MSL division leaders Saturday.

Dan Guido threw a 5-hitter as host Elk Grove (16-10, 9-5) completed a season sweep of East-leader Prospect (19-6, 10-3) with a 10-0 victory in 5 innings.

And pinch-hitter Justin Charvat’s RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning gave host Schaumburg (14-8, 7-7) a 4-3 victory and a sweep of West co-leader Palatine (19-13, 9-5).

Unfortunately for the Saxons, an 11-7 loss in 9 innings to Buffalo Grove in the completion of a suspended game hurt their hopes of tightening the race even more with Palatine and Fremd (15-12, 9-5).

“It’s a shame we didn’t get the first one … but it was a nice win (over Palatine) anyway,” said Schaumburg coach Paul Groot, whose team also beat Palatine 7-4 in 8 innings Thursday. “We are playing better and we had a good week. Going 4-2, that’s not bad.”

Schaumburg trailed Palatine 3-2 in the bottom of the sixth but a leadoff error, a Mike Pietritis single, Mark Bielanski’s sacrifice and a single by Ryan Hayes tied the game.

Roger Lane started the seventh with a double and Groot sent up Charvat to sacrifice. But after a wild pitch, Charvat lined the game-winning hit to left.

“He’s done a nice job in a pinch-hitting role for us,” Groot said.

Hayes got the victory with 1 innings of relief after starter Kurt Kempema allowed only 1 earned run and had 6 strikeouts in 5 innings. Doubles by Matt Brancato and Bielanski helped Schaumburg take a 2-1 lead in the fourth.

Palatine responded in the sixth and took a 3-2 lead on an RBI single by Joe Walsh (2-for-3) and an RBI double by Mike Czarnik (2-for-3).

In the game with BG that was suspended 11 days ago at 5-5 after 7 innings, both teams scored a run in the eighth but the Bison broke it open with 5 runs in the ninth. Jimmy Pinakidis and Jake Monson both went 3-for-5 and Jesus Sanchez got the victory.

Jeremy Hall and Tom Byrne had 2 hits for the Saxons, who are at Fremd on Monday and host Barrington on Wednesday.

Palatine, which holds the tiebreaker on Fremd with a season sweep, is at Hoffman Estates on Monday and hosts Conant on Wednesday. Fremd finishes at Hoffman on Wednesday.

Prospect could have clinched the East title Saturday but Elk Grove had other ideas. Guido (7-3) had 2 strikeouts and 1 walk as the Knights were shutout for the first time since May 1, 2009.

“He’s been pitching pretty well lately,” said Elk Grove coach Terry Beyna, whose team won 4-3 at Prospect on May 3. “He was using all three of his pitches (fastball, changeup, curveball) and throwing strikes with all three. It was evident to the low number of strikeouts that he was getting things to happen early in the count.”

The Grenadiers also made it happen offensively with 13 hits to hand Ben Menich (6-1) his first loss.

Carl Sugihara (3-for-4, 2 RBI), Justin Arguelles (2-for-2, 2 RBI) and Jack Czeszewski (2-for-4) led the way as they ended it with a 6-run fifth. Kurt Donner had 2 doubles for Prospect.

“You could see when the guys first got to the field they were really excited and you could see they wanted to play,” Beyna said. “It was kind of our day.”

The Grenadiers finish at BG on Monday and at Rolling Meadows on Wednesday. Prospect hosts Meadows on Monday, BG in a makeup Tuesday and finishes at Hersey on Wednesday.

“I’d still rather be in their shoes,” Beyna said with a laugh.

But at least the Grens still have hope of a Cinderella-esque finish with some help.

BG also played Lake Park (12-15, 7-6) on Saturday and lost 3-2 and 8-1.

Meadows 6, Wheeling 5: Rolling Meadows (13-12, 7-7) rallied from a 4-0 deficit in the MSL East and the winning run scored in the seventh when Kevin Cwynar beat out a potential inning-ending double play with the bases loaded.

Eric Lowe’s second double of the game started the seventh. A one-out balk and two intentional walks brought up Cwynar, who drove in 3 runs as the Mustangs snapped a 5-game losing streak.

Meadows senior Paul Volkman (2-1) threw a complete-game 4-hitter and gave up 3 earned runs. He had 4 strikeouts and 2 walks as Wheeling (5-17, 2-12) lost its 10th straight.

Fremd 13, Mundelein 11: A dropped third strike and an error led Fremd (15-12) to break an 11-11 tie in the top of the seventh of the nonconference win. K.J. Kinsella (2-for-4) added an insurance run with an RBI single for relief winner Brett Tudela.

Sean Stutzman went 2-for-4 with a homer and 2 RBI, Clint Herdegen went 3-for-5 with a double and 4 RBI and Josh Jyawook had 2 doubles as Fremd outhit Mundelein 13-6.

Hoffman 15, Ridgewood 3: Jimmy Ward and Ethan Bloom combined on a 3-hitter and Hoffman Estates (14-15) had a 5-run third and 10-run seventh in the nonconference win. Ward was 4-for-5 with 2 doubles and 3 RBI and Trent Rehusch went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI.

Lyons sweeps Leyden: In a West Suburban Conference crossover showdown, Leyden (24-4) made a dramatic Game 2 rally with 9 runs in the top of the seventh to take a 1-run lead by Lyons (27-3) came back to win 12-11. The Lions won the first game 3-1.

Lake Zurich 5, Hersey 3: Hersey (15-13) couldn’t hold leads of 2-0 and 3-1 in a game with more errors (10) than hits (9). Mike Danielak took the loss despite allowing only 1 earned run in 5 innings and had his team’s only RBI.