Hersey, Fremd clinch share of MSL division titles

A pair of comebacks Friday afternoon put Hersey in the Mid-Suburban League baseball championship game and Fremd in the driver's seat to get there.

Hersey (21-7, 10-5) clinched a share of the East title with a 7-5 crossover win at Barrington and it owns the title-game berth tiebreaker with a season sweep over second-place Prospect (12-17, 9-6), which lost 12-7 at Schaumburg.

Fremd (17-12, 10-5) clinched a share of its fourth straight West crown with an 8-6 crossover win over visiting Buffalo Grove. But to host next Friday's MSL title game, the Vikings still need a win Monday at Wheeling or a loss by red-hot Palatine (15-17, 9-6).

Palatine, which finishes Monday at Buffalo Grove, has the head-to-head tiebreaker on Fremd with a season sweep. Schaumburg (18-12, 9-6) also still has a chance to clinch a share of a West title but can not play for the MSL title because of tiebreakers.

Hersey 7, Barrington 5: A strong long relief performance by Aaron DeGeorge helped Hersey win its second East title in three years and ninth division title. Only 1 of the 2 runs DeGeorge allowed in 6 innings was earned as he gave up 3 hits and 4 walks with 5 strikeouts.

Hersey took the lead for good with a 3-run sixth started on Josh Koutnik's one-out single. Tyler Perkowitz had a tying RBI double to right field and James Ioratti (2-for-4) came through with a two-out, 2-run single to center.

Erik Stoltzner (2-for-4) had an RBI single in the seventh, Sean Reszotko had an RBI double in the third and Nick Nolan went 2-for-3. Barrington (16-13, 6-9) led 4-2 after three as Max Redpath went 2-for-3 with a 2-run double in the first and an RBI single in the third.

Fremd 8, Buffalo Grove 6: Fremd never led until the bottom of the sixth on Matt Wisniewski's sacrifice fly and Jack Andersen's RBI single to clinch a share of its 11th division title. Andersen got the win with 2 innings of 1-hit relief and Jason English got the save by leaving the tying runs on base with two groundouts.

Keith Giagnorio's RBI double and a passed ball tied it at 6-6 in the fifth and Keith Browning hit a 2-run homer in the third. Mike DiViesti went 3-for-4 with a 2-run homer to give BG (12-18, 7-8) a 5-1 lead and Richie Zirngibl had 2 doubles.

Palatine 6, Elk Grove 4: Kurt Becker went 3-for-4, Eric Scheuermann went 2-for-4 and Mike Czarnik had 2 RBI as Palatine won its sixth straight in the MSL crossover. Jake Walker went 5 innings for the win and Dan Jeske got the final five outs for the save.

Luc Dimaso homered in the third and Nick Zak drove in 2 runs for Elk Grove (16-14, 7-8).

Schaumburg 12, Prospect 7: Winner Matt Brancato went 3-for-4 with a homer and 3 RBI, Patrick Bellinger went 2-for-2 with a double and 3 RBI and Jeremy Hall and Joe Petritis had 2 hits and an RBI apiece as Schaumburg led 9-3 after three innings in its fifth straight win. Dan Kavanaugh homered as Prospect was knocked out of a share of the East lead.

Conant 4, Rolling Meadows 3: Nick Blaha's 2-run double in the bottom of the sixth gave Conant (12-12, 8-7) the MSL crossover victory. Singles by Kerry Hickerson and Kyle Gizynski (2-for-3) set up Blaha's hit.

Meadows (17-13, 8-7) took a 3-2 lead in the sixth on a 2-run single by Eric Lowe (2-for-4) and an RBI single by Mike Dolan (2-for-4). Matt Hendricks went 3-for-4 and Mike Weingart went 2-for-4.

Hoffman Estates 3, Wheeling 2: Three consecutive two-out doubles by Ethan Bloom, Kevin Grudzinski and Brian Cvitkovich and an RBI single by Mike Gordon in the first held up for Hoffman (13-15, 7-8) in the MSL crossover. Cviktovich went 5 innings for the win and Grudzinski got the save.

Kalvin Thong had a 2-run double in the fifth and Nick Ricciardi had 4 strikeouts in 6 innings for Wheeling (1-27, 0-15).