Baseball: South Elgin knocks off Bartlett
The South Elgin baseball team is heating up with the playoffs in sight.
The Storm won 11-4 at Bartlett Tuesday in the opening game of a 3-game Upstate Eight Valley rivalry series.
It was the third straight win and seventh in eight outings for South Elgin (11-7-1, 9-3), which begins IHSA Class 4A tournament play Monday at home against West Chicago. The Storm won 2 out of 3 games against the same Wildcats last week.
"We're finally getting on a roll and finally starting to play baseball the way we should be," South Elgin 12th-year coach Jim Kating said. "It's taken awhile to get there. We're starting to believe in ourselves a little bit. I'm happy with the progress we're making."
The Storm led 2-1 in the third inning when they erupted for 5 runs on 5 hits, ignited by a run-scoring single from junior cleanup hitter Logan Romassanta, who finished 2-for-3 with a walk.
Starting pitcher Joe Teschke made it stand up. The junior right-hander held Bartlett (9-16, 7-6) to 3 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits and 2 walks. He struck out 5 in 5 innings to improve to 2-1 and lowered his ERA to 1.78 in 19⅔ innings.
"I was really locating my fastball and staying lower, which really helped me, and my curveball was really working," Teschke said. "My infield making plays behind me gave me a lot of confidence out there." The Storm turned a rare 6-3-5 double play in the third inning when first baseman Nick Poblocki made a putout and fired to third base to nail a runner trying to advance.
Senior right-hander Matt Sweitzer held the Hawks to an unearned run over the final 2 innings. His third strikeout ended the game.
South Elgin jumped to a first-inning lead on a run-scoring single by Nate Gomez. He later scored on Ryan Dominick's groundout.
Bartlett struck back in the second inning. No. 4 hitter Matt Angelone turned on the first pitch from Teschke and drove it over the left-field fence for his second home run of the season. The blast energized the Bartlett bench at the time, but South Elgin's 5-run, third-inning rally took the starch out of the Hawks.
"The biggest thing is we need to play with more energy," Bartlett coach Devin Rosen said. "I thought they played with more energy than we did and that shouldn't be. We have to come with more energy the rest of this series."
Garrett Wano staked the Storm to an 8-3, sixth-inning lead. The 6-foot-2 junior hammered an 0-1 pitch over the left-field fence for a solo home run.
The Storm added 3 runs in the seventh. Ben Hetelle's run-scoring double was part of a 14-hit attack. The junior went 1-for-3 with 2 RBI.
"I wasn't really seeing the ball that well, but I was able to put in two good at-bats and drive runs in," Hetelle said. "I'm just trying to do a job at the plate every time and not try to do too much."
Bartlett collected 8 hits and drew 2 walks. Shortstop Tyler Yang had 2 hits in 3 at-bats.
The series resumes Wednesday at South Elgin on Senior Night.