Starless Barrington shining brightly

Good luck with a star search for Barrington after Wednesday afternoon’s Mid-Suburban West baseball game with visiting Conant.

And that’s a good reason why the Broncos continued their resurgence and improved to 10-3 overall as Jon Rogers went the distance in a 7-5 victory.

“We’re one big group and everyone has got each other’s back,” said Barrington junior shortstop Chris Coco, who went 2-for-4 and made some crucial defensive plays. “It seems every game a different guy comes through big.

“When you get everyone playing good like that it’s easier to win games.”

Especially after how difficult it was a year ago when the Broncos lost their first 12 and finished 7-28. Now they are the only 2-0 team in the West because of the resilience they showed in their fifth straight victory.

Rogers (4-0) didn’t have his best stuff but retired the last eight Conant (4-7, 0-2) hitters. He gave up only 2 earned runs on 7 hits and had 3 strikeouts and 2 walks as 64 of his 98 pitches were strikes.

“He competed,” said Barrington coach Jim Hawrysko of the senior right-hander.

“I felt more comfortable at the end and my velocity went up toward the end of the game,” said Rogers, who didn’t have the usual bite on his curveball. “Even if I don’t have my best stuff I trust my hitters to come through.”

Which they did immediately after Conant went ahead on freshman Anthony Forte’s 2-run, two-out single in the first.

Coco singled and Macray Poidomani (3-for-4) doubled to set up successive RBI singles by Frank Waliczek, Ryan Lidge, Justin Dragosz and Max Redpath in the bottom of the inning.

“It wasn’t my best game but our hitting is really good,” Rogers said.

But Conant junior righty Kevin Schimel also settled down to go the distance with 2 strikeouts and no walks. He threw 58 of his 87 pitches for strikes.

“We battled back which is great to see, but we always battle back,” said Conant coach Jerry Song, whose team committed only 1 error. “Hopefully we turned the page and we’re getting better, especially defensively. We know we can hit and hopefully we can get everybody rolling.”

Forte also had a sacrifice fly and drove in 4 runs, Nick Blaha had a sacrifice fly and Zach Losch and Kerry Hickerson had 2 hits apiece as Conant got within 4-3 in the third and 6-5 in the fifth.

But the Broncos responded with 2 runs in the fourth on an RBI double by Justin Gitelis and an RBI single by Poidomani. They got a big insurance run in the sixth as Scott Nelson singled and came around on a balk, a pinch single by Aaron Foley and Coco beating out a double-play grounder.

“We’ve been doing that all year,” Coco said. “We’ve answered when we get down and put the pressure back on the other team.”

Barrington also showed some defensive resolve as Redpath atoned for a dropped popup in the first by knocking down Dan Behof’s one-hop shot for the final out of the first inning to prevent a run. A heads-up relay on Forte’s sacrifice fly from Coco to second baseman Dylan Lidge ended the third.

Coco also had a diving grab of a liner in the second inning and made a tough short hop play of Losch’s high chopper up the middle for the first out of the seventh.

“When you win games and get used to winning you don’t let little things bother you,” Hawrysko said.

“Last year it seemed all the close games we would lose and we would make stupid mistakes that would cost us,” Coco said. “We have great chemistry and we’re playing together. We’re playing great team baseball and that’s why we’re winning so much.”