Elgin CC pulls off regional upset
The Elgin Community College baseball team is at it again.
The fifth-seeded Spartans scored 5 runs in the fourth inning Thursday and upset top-seeded Black Hawk in the first round of the NJCAA Region IV Tournament at McHenry County College.
ECC (41-14) will take on Madison today at noon. The winner advances to the championship round on Saturday, one win away from a berth in the NJCAA World Series in Enid, Okla.
“It was nice to get the first win of the tournament,” said ECC coach Bill Angelo, whose program has been to nationals five of the past seven seasons. “We still have two more big ones to get.”
Steve Locat had a double and Brady Renner (2-for-4) drove in a run in Thursday’s win for the Spartans. Andy Grunewald went 7⅓ innings for the win, allowing 5 hits with 6 strikeouts and 3 walks. Brett Loeding struck out two in 1 inning of work for his ninth save of the season.
Prep baseball
Huntley 10, Woodstock 0: Carlos Alvarez (2B, 2 RBI), Brady Burkart (2-for-3, 3B, 3 RBI), Justin Gundlach (HR, 2 RBI), Tyler Murdock (2-for-3, 2B) and Tyler Davila (RBI) led Huntley (21-8, 16-6) to this Fox Valley Conference win. Bryan Doherty (5-1) went 4 innings for the win.
Cary-Grove 13, Woodstock North 0: Matt Panek (7-0) threw a 1-hitter to lead the Trojans (23-8, 19-5) to an FVC win. Tyler Lau had 2 doubles, Michael Vilardo (2-for-2) a triple and 2 RBI, Panek (2-for-3) 2 RBI, Alex Wians (2-for-2) 2 RBI and Kevin Weber (2-for-2) an RBI to lead Cary-Grove’s offense. Panek struck out five and walked two.
ACC 5, Hampshire 4: Dylon Nihells (2-for-3, 2B, RBI), Luke Wians (2-for-4, 2 RBI) and Nick Holze (2-for-4) led Hampshire (13-13) in this nonconference loss. Matt Calvello was the losing pitcher.
South Elgin 17, Bartlett 9: The Storm (22-8, 16-8) added to their record-setting season with an 18-hit attack against Bartlett. Jake Buhmann was 5-for-5 with a home run, a double and 5 RBI to lead the charge. Nate Garris had 3 hits and 4 RBI for South Elgin, while Andrew Weedman and Kenny Lowden each drove in 2 runs. Marty Knuth (5-2) was the winning pitcher for South Elgin. Tyler Farina had 3 RBI for the Hawks, while Ryan Roszkowski and Giaconno Visconti each drove in 2 runs.
College baseball
Judson falls again: Judson lost its third straight game at the NCCAA World Series in Mason, Ohio, falling 4-2 to North Greenville University. Tyler Ware suffered the loss on the mound for the Eagles (42-20), who now have one game remaining in the tournament.
John Radtke contributed to this report