Hoffman Estates rallies for victory
Mark Roberts was no longer in line for the pitching victory when he came to the plate for Hoffman Estates in the top of the seventh inning of Monday’s Mid-Suburban West baseball game at Palatine.
But Roberts made sure the Hawks earned a comeback victory when he came through with a go-ahead 2-run double and narrowly missed a grand slam in a 5-run outburst that sent them to a 7-5 victory.
Zach Hommowun’s RBI single got Hoffman (8-9, 2-2) within 4-3 before Roberts delivered his third hit. An error led to 2 insurance runs and winner Kevin Grudzinski left the tying run on base with a strikeout.
Sophomore Ethan Bloom hit a 2-run homer in the first and Roberts had 9 strikeouts and 3 walks in 51⁄3 innings. Anthony Fortunato had an RBI single in a 2-run sixth as Palatine (6-13, 1-3) took a 4-2 lead.
Fremd 5, Barrington 0: Jack Andersen (5-1) threw a 5-hitter for his second shutout of the season for visiting Fremd (9-7, 2-2) in the MSL West. Keith Browning went 2-for-4 with a double and a triple and Jon Escobar went 2-for-4.
Chris Coco went 2-for-3 and Justin Dragosz went 2-for-3 as Barrington (12-4, 3-1) had a seven-game winning streak snapped.
Conant 11, Schaumburg 2: Kerry Hickerson homered and drove in 2 runs and freshman Anthony Forte had 2 RBI in support of winner Nick Blaha as Conant (5-8, 1-3) ended a five-game losing streak with the MSL West win. Thomas Byrne homered for Schaumburg (10-8, 2-2).
Elk Grove 11, Wheeling 1 (6 inn.): Cody Gustafson allowed 2 hits in 5 innings and Mikey Maize homered and drove in 3 runs for Elk Grove (11-5, 3-1) in the six-inning MSL East win. Luc Dimaso had 2 hits, a double and an RBI and Michael Anciulis drove in 2 runs.
Wheeling (1-16, 0-4) avoided a shutout with a run in the fourth.
St. Viator 4, Huntley 2: Gunnar Kay threw a complete-game 6-hitter with 4 strikeouts and center fielder Joe Rossi drove in 2 runs and made a pair of diving catches for Viator (11-7) in the nonconference road win.
Buffalo Grove 8, Hersey 8 (8 inn., susp.): Three innings of scoreless relief by Buffalo Grove’s Jeremy Berger and host Hersey’s Aaron DeGeorge led to their MSL East game being suspended because of darkness after eight innings. It will be resumed at 4:30 p.m. today with BG hitting in the top of the ninth at Hersey.
Berger didn’t allow a hit and had 1 strikeout after Hersey (12-1, 3-0) rallied for a tie at 6-6 as Nick Nolan’s RBI single capped a 5-run fifth. DeGeorge allowed only 1 hit and had 1 walk and 4 strikeouts.
Jimmy Barton went 3-for-4 with 2 RBI for BG (6-11, 1-2) and Erik Stoltzner went 3-for-4 with 3 RBI for Hersey.