Baseball: Elgin bounces back against Larkin
How much growing up can teenage ballplayers do in 11 days?
Enough to reverse a one-sided outcome against a rival, according to the Elgin baseball team.
The Maroons say they learned a lesson on April 6 when rival Larkin drubbed them by the 10-run rule, which is why Monday's 4-2 road victory over those same Royals in the crosstown series finale felt so satisfying.
"We're finally starting to get over that hump, which is obviously the goal this season," Elgin sophomore pitcher Kyle Coates said of a junior-laden team that carries only three seniors and two sophomores.
The Maroons bounced back on April 7 to give the Royals a better game before falling 3-2 in a walk off. It was an improvement but still not the result Elgin sought.
A 5-3 win over West Aurora followed the next day. Elgin's next two games were character-building 1-run losses to East Aurora and Glenbard East.
On Monday, the Maroons continued their improved play of late. Junior right-hander Matthew Turner pitched 6 shutout innings, and reliever Coates navigated his way around 2 infield errors and a hit batsman in the bottom of the seventh to finish off the Upstate Eight River victory.
With the potential tying runs on first and second with two outs, Coates induced a tapper back to the mound from Larkin No. 3 hitter Kobe Mounivong and threw to first to end it.
"We've been playing better. It's just a matter of us staying composed," Elgin coach David Foerster said. "We had a chance that last inning to kind of fall apart again and we didn't do it. We stayed composed, battled through our mistakes and were able to hold on for a win."
Turner (1-4) worked through some early control issues with his off-speed pitches only to develop better mastery in the latter innings. He limited the Royals to 3 hits and 2 walks and struck out 4. He exited after 6 innings and 85 pitches with a 4-0 lead.
"After that bad first loss against them we've really picked up our game a lot," Turner said. "We've had some close games, had some good wins. This one means a lot to us. Obviously, it's Larkin, it's a big rival and it feels really good going into the next series."
Elgin (3-9, 3-4) took a 1-0 lead in the third inning when RJ Bartlett lined a single to right field off Mounivong, scoring John Fortmann.
The Maroons moved to a 3-0, fifth-inning lead on a pair of unearned runs. An error by the Larkin third baseman allowed Payton Reynolds to score for a 2-0 Elgin advantage. They padded the cushion to 3-0 on a fielder's choice grounder off the bat of Jack Sitter. A fourth run crossed in the seventh inning with help from Larkin's fifth error.
It was the fourth straight loss for Larkin (7-7, 3-5), which finished with more errors (5) than hits (4).
"You have to tip your cap to them," Larkin coach Matt Esterino said. "They played well defensively for the most part and their pitcher did a good job bearing down and throwing strikes. But we came out flat. We didn't have the energy we needed and baseball karma will catch you when you do that. They earned it, but I'll take the blame for the flatness. We can't do that if we want to get to where we want to get to."
Andy Bonnot, Max Anderson (double), Michael Rodriguez and Tony Cervantess had the only hits for the Royals.