Northwest/ Scouting baseball sectionals

By Marty Maciaszek

mmaciaszek@dailyherald.com

Class 4A Schaumburg sectional

Site: Schaumburg Boomers Stadium, Springinsguth Road and Elgin-O’Hare Expressway.

The matchups: No. 16 Bartlett (19-19) vs. No. 13 Willowbrook (22-14), 5 p.m. Wednesday; No. 10 Schaumburg (23-13) vs. No. 3 St. Charles East (25-10).

Outlook: The winning turned out to be just beginning for retiring Schaumburg coach Paul Groot when he got No. 600 for his career May 4. That started a surge of 10 wins in the last 11 games and a pair of 1-run wins in the York regional. “We’ve seen some pretty good teams lately,” Groot said of wins over No. 6 York and No. 2 St. Charles North. “Scratch across a few (runs) and shut them down has been our formula.” Junior lefty Max Paolicchi, who will start tonight, Evansville-bound senior Pat Bellinger and Mid-Suburban West co-player of the year Matt Brancato have been the backbone of the surge on the mound with SS Thomas Byrne and OF Jordan Grubb setting up the offense. St. Charles East has thrived in the second coaching stint for Len Asquini with LHP Kyle Manske, who is 8-1 with an ERA under 1.50, and Joe Hoscheit (.450) leading the way. “Lenny has got them really playing and they might be the best team we’ve seen all year,” Groot said. “(Manske) is really good and has good stuff. He’ll be tough.”

Bartlett had to win three regional games last week, including a 7-hitter with 8 strikeouts by Robert Sadowski (6-3, 2.26 ERA) in a 2-0 win over top-seeded Geneva, and a pair of wins by Colin Nowak (7-2, 2.26). Dan Gallanis will lead the offense against a Willowbrook team which won its first regional title in 39 years. Dave Cericola, who will start today, and Alex Tiberi have thrown complete-game 1-run games in the postseason for the Warriors.

Advancement: Winners play for the sectional title at 11 a.m. Saturday. The sectional champ goes to the Rockford RiverHawks supersectional at 7 p.m. Monday against the McHenry sectional champion.

Class 4A Glenbrook South sectional

Site: Glenbrook South High School, Glenview

The matchups: No. 1 Mundelein (33-4) vs. No. 14 Palatine (18-19), 4:30 p.m. Wednesday; No. 7 Stevenson (22-13) vs. No. 13 Highland Park (18-19)

Outlook: A year ago Palatine stunned top-seeded Mundelein in the regional final. Now the Pirates, winners of nine of their last 11, need to pull off another upset to reach a sectional final for only the second time and first in 24 years. “We’ve had great team chemistry all year,” said Palatine senior and Mid-Suburban West co-player of the year Kurt Becker. “We’ve been there for each other and picked each other up.” The Pirates got excellent pitching in their regional upsets of No. 4 Hersey and No. 5 Libertyville from Bradley-bound Eric Scheuermann and Becker, solid defense and a mix of power from home runs by Jarrod Juskiewicz and Nick Roy to small-ball execution. They will need to be on top of their game again as the North Suburban Conference champs have overcome the loss of Iowa-bound starting P Ryan Borucki to any extended use because of an elbow injury. Jared Mandel stepped up to win the regional final with help from a Chris Maranto homer. “Mundelein has great approaches at the plate,” said Palatine coach Paul Belo, who got his 300th career victory earlier this season. “They have a couple of horses on the mound.” Stevenson overcame an early 4-run deficit in the regional opener against Rolling Meadows to win 5-4 in 12 innings and then bounced No. 2 Glenbrook North 7-2 with the pitching of Scott Irving and Matt Allen and the hitting of Max Golembo. Highland Park upset Carmel with a gritty complete game by Jake Rubin.

Advancement: The winners play for the title at 10 a.m. Saturday. The sectional champion advances to the Rockford RiverHawks supersectional to face the Evanston sectional champion at 4:30 p.m. Monday.

Class 3A Grayslake Central sectional

Site: Grayslake Central High School

The matchups: No. 1 Grayslake Central (28-9) vs. No. 4 Lakes (21-16), 4 p.m. Wednesday; No. 2 Vernon Hills (28-7) vs. No. 3 St. Viator (21-16), 3 p.m. Thursday.

Outlook: Reaching a third straight sectional hasn’t been easy for St. Viator — which included Monday’s 3-run, two-out rally capped by Roy Pettingill’s bases-loaded hit by pitch for a 4-3 win over Deerfield. “Our pitching and defense has kept us in every game this year,” said Viator coach Mike Manno, who will turn to senior Chris Myjak to start Thursday’s earlier start because of Vernon Hills’ graduation. “Vernon Hills is a really good team and we’ll try to find a way to get over the hump (four sectional semifinal losses in Manno’s tenure). I know our kids will be hungry to try to chance that but it will be a tough task.” Vernon Hills has set a school victory record behind the pitching of Tyler Feece (11-2), Pat Crowley and M.J. Crowley. Grayslake Central has also had another big year under Troy Whalen as Mark Ash and Brian Karol have combined for 14 wins and Nick Hosford sets the table for RBI machine and catcher Kristian Meehan. Chris Hoffman is one of the veteran senior leaders for Lakes. “I think we’re all very comparable,” Manno said. “I don’t think any one team is going to come out and mash. I could be wrong but we all have good pitching and defense.”

Advancement: The winners play for the title at 11 a.m. Saturday. The sectional champion advances to the North Central College supersectional in Naperville against the Glenbard South sectional champion at 4:30 p.m. Monday.