Palatine bounces back
Palatine pitcher Kurt Becker didn’t give his outfielders much to do Monday at Hoffman Estates.
He kept his infielders, however, extremely busy.
Becker induced 14 ground ball outs, including a couple of key double plays, as the Pirates rebounded from a tough weekend loss to Schaumburg by defeating Hoffman 11-1.
Becker struck out 4 in a complete-game win while limiting the Hawks to only 2 flyouts. Becker also went 4-for-4 with a double and teammate Dan Haze had 4 RBI, including a 3-run home run in the first inning.
Palatine (20-13, 10-5) can clinch its first Mid-Suburban West title since 2006 Wednesday with a win at home against Conant. Fremd (16-12, 10-5) remained in a tie for first with a 3-2 win over Schaumburg.
Palatine holds the tiebreaker to reach Saturday’s MSL title game at Prospect with its season sweep of Fremd, which finishes at Hoffman on Wednesday.
“I was just trying hit a single, and give Becks something to work with,” said Haze of his blast which cleared the 350-foot sign in left center. “He pitches a great game every time out.”
“My fastball was working, and as the game progressed I was able to hold it well,” said Becker, who improved to 5-0. “They (Hoffman) were swinging, and my fielders did the job behind me.”
Hoffman starting pitcher Jimmy Ward settled down and threw well until the Pirates broke the game open in the top of the seventh.
“Jimmy pitched a nice game,” said Hawks coach Todd Meador. “He made a mistake with the curveball (on Haze’s homer,) but after that the only runs he gave up (until the seventh) were due to a balk and a misplay in the outfield.
“Today you have give a lot of credit to Becker. He did a nice job keeping the ball down. We were hitting off of our front foot a lot. We talked about making adjustments, but we never made them.”
The Pirates scored single runs in the second and third inning, then the bats boomed again in the seventh as they plated 6 runs.
Becker, Haze and Vince Portera stroked RBI hits in the inning while Scott Schneberger clubbed a 2-run homer.
Hoffman (14-16, 6-9) junior Kevin Grudzinski had 3 hits and an RBI.
“I’m proud of the way the kids bounced back today,” said Palatine coach Paul Belo. “Kurt (Becker) did a nice job keeping the ball in the lower half of the zone.”
Palatine won 20 games in a season for the eighth time and for the second time in back-to-back seasons (2005-06).
“We were extremely focused on getting this win,” added Haze. “After losing to Schaumburg we wanted to come back today and show everybody what we’re all about.”
Fremd 3, Schaumburg 2: Joe Leaf threw a 4-hitter and K.J. Kinsella had a tiebreaking two-out RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to keep Fremd (16-12, 10-5) tied for first in the MSL West.
Leaf had 6 strikeouts and 3 walks and pitched around a two-out walk in the seventh. Kurt Kaufman had an RBI single in the first and a homer in the fourth.
Mike Pietritis doubled and hit a tying 2-run homer in the fourth for Schaumburg (14-9, 7-8). Connor McWard doubled with one out in the fifth and Kaufman was intentionally walked with two outs to set up Kinsella’s hit.
Matt Wisniewski also went 3-for-3 for Fremd, which visits Hoffman Estates on Wednesday.