Baseball: South Elgin takes full advantage of chance against Larkin
It didn't matter to the South Elgin baseball players that Saturday's home game had to be moved to Larkin because South Elgin's field was unplayable in the wake of Friday's rain.
The only thing the Storm cared about was being back on a baseball diamond for the first time in seven days.
That the sun was shining, the thermometer was pushing 80 and the wind was blowing straight out to center field? Bonus territory.
After half an inning to knock off the rust, South Elgin erupted for 14 hits - including a solo home run by Adam Walker and a 2-run shot by Kevin Barry - drew 5 walks against three pitchers and capitalized on 3 Larkin errors to win an Upstate Eight crossover 12-2 in six innings.
"It's really tempting when you see the wind and the weather like this," said Barry, who went 2-for-3 with 3 RBI. "This is the first real nice day we've had and the wind's blowing out so when you come here you know it's going to be a good day. It gets you excited."
Larkin (7-6, 4-4), playing its fourth game in five days, jumped to a 2-0 first-inning lead against South Elgin starting pitcher Jack Stancl. Kobe Mounivong's RBI single scored Jackson Reuter, and Cy Kerber followed with a run-scoring double.
However, the Royals mustered only 3 hits the rest of the game against Stancl (2-0) and reliever Nate Gomez. Following a two-out walk in the second inning, Stancl retired nine straight batters until he issued a walk to Andy Bonnot in the fifth. In a 75-pitch, 4⅔-inning performance, the 6-foot-1 senior right-hander limited Larkin to 2 runs (1 earned) on 3 hits and 2 walks.
"When I was down in the pen I didn't get myself in the right mindset," Stancl said, "but as soon as I came out there in the second inning I was able to pound my spots in the zone and trust the defense behind me."
Stancl struck out 7 Royals.
"I thought their pitcher did a great job of throwing off speed when he was behind in he count," Larkin coach Matt Esterino said. "That's something we'll learn from for our pitchers and our hitters."
South Elgin (4-2, 2-0) got a run back in the second inning when Walker belted a 1-2 curveball from Larkin starting pitcher Jonathan Unger for a leadoff home run.
"Honestly, I was just trying to put the ball in the air," Walker said of his first varsity home run. "Some pop-ups carried. You thought were going to be routine and they ended up on the warning track. Just put the ball in the air and it's going to go really far."
The Storm scored 4 runs in the third inning to take the lead for good. With runners on second and third Nate Gomez sent a sharp single to left field to drive in Bryant Diel and Patrick Keaty for a 3-2 lead.
Cleanup hitter Barry then launched a no-doubt-about-it 2-run home run to straightaway center field to give South Elgin a 5-2 lead.
The Storm scored 4 more runs in the fifth inning and 3 in the sixth to end it. Gomez finished 3-for-3 with a double and 2 RBI, Walker also doubled and drove in 2 runs, Patrick Keaty had 2 singles in 3 at-bats and Logan Romasanta (RBI) went 2-for-3.
"Larkin always plays us tough," South Elgin coach Jim Kating said. "They're always a competitive group and they come to play. I was happy how we finally ended up getting regrouped and back together and strung some runs together to take some of the pressure off (Stancl)."