Pitching, power propels Leyden

Carlos Olavarria and Justin Stawychny provided powerful opening and closing statements for Leyden in Monday’s Class 4A Niles North baseball regional championship game.

Olavarria started the scoring for the top-seeded Eagles with a 2-run homer in the first inning. Stawychny’s 2-run shot finished off a 7-run fifth and 10-0 victory over the 12th-seeded Vikings in Skokie.

Eric Palmer threw a 3-hitter as Leyden (27-5) won its third regional title in five years and fourth in its history — all since 1994 under Gary Wolf.

“We’re excited about the opporutnity to play in a sectional again after a couple of years,” Wolf said.

Palmer had 5 strikeouts and no walks to send the Eagles into Wednesday’s 4:30 p.m. Glenbrook South sectional semifinal. They’ll face the winner of today’s 4:15 p.m. weather-delayed New Trier regional final between the Trevians and Niles West.

“It started last summer and in every game this spring, he just pounds the strike zone,” Wolf said. “He had command of all of his pitches and was on the attack the whole game.”

Olavarria also doubled and had 4 RBI. Eli Perez went 2-for-3 and John Marino drove in a run.