Baseball: Elgin dumps St. Edward for first win
Months of preparation followed by five losses to open the season left the Elgin baseball team hungry for a win any way it could get one against St. Edward at Wing Park Saturday.
Though the Maroons surrendered a 3-run, fifth-inning lead and nearly blew a 3-run lead in the eighth, reliever RJ Bartlett notched a strikeout with the potential tying run at second base to seal a 6-5 nonconference victory.
"It felt great to hold on and get the win - finally," Bartlett said after earning the save. "We've been waiting for it. We've been working hard, early morning practices trying to get a W, and we did."
Bartlett experienced the ups and downs of baseball in a four-batter span in relief of Elgin starting pitcher Kyle Coates, who held St. Edward (1-5) to 5 runs (2 earned) on 4 hits and a walk and struck out 6.
Coates (1-1) efficiently navigated seven innings in 76 pitches, thus he came out for the eighth after his teammates rallied for 3 runs in the top of the inning. However, after a walk to Daniel Falco and a basehit by Mike Lopez, Coates was lifted at the 86-pitch mark.
In came Bartlett. The right-hander struck out St. Edward No. 3 hitter Nolan Theriault and cleanup hitter Matthew Schimbke in succession. However, the junior fell behind in the count 3-1 against Jack Olson, who launched a long, 2-run double that one-hopped the fence in the left-field corner to draw St. Edward within 6-5.
"I got nervous, for sure. I thought he hit it over," Bartlett said. "But I just came back, kept my mind straight and made sure I came back firing harder."
Bartlett fell behind 1-0 against the next hitter before throwing 3 straight strikes. He caught the batter looking on a low fastball on the inside corner to seal Elgin's first victory.
"We had to work for it, for sure," Coates said. "It definitely felt good to get it."
Elgin led 3-0 in the fifth inning until the Green Wave struck for 3 runs. Falco's 2-run double keyed the rally. He later scored on a groundball off the bat of Lopez to knot the score.
St. Edward starting pitcher Matthew Schimbke held the Maroons to 3 runs (1 earned) on 6 hits and 3 walks. He struck out 7 in 7 innings but he needed 103 pitches to do it.
It was the third time in 5 losses St. Edward dropped a 1-run decision.
"They're competing and that's all you can ask for," St. Edward coach Trent Golz said of his largely inexperienced team. "They're staying in ballgames. We just need to stay out of the big inning. Like in that eighth inning where we gave up 3 runs. We're young. We just need to have confidence in ourselves."
Elgin scored its 3 runs in the eighth against reliever Ethan Palomino (0-1), who issued a pair of walks. Drew Staine later capitalized. His swinging bunt hit drove in Cameron Jackson with the go-ahead run.
Elgin added a fifth run on a suicide squeeze bunt by No. 9 hitter Rolando Espinoza. A sixth run scored on a wild pitch. The Maroons needed all of them, as it turned out.
"We had some adversity in the middle innings and we lost the lead," Elgin coach David Foerster said. "To our kids' credit, they hung tough and battled back and found a way in the eighth inning to get some runs. It was just enough. We came with a lot of energy and we were focused on getting a win however we had to do it. And we came through."