Elgin rallies, Barrington cruises, Wheaton slaughtered at Legion tourney
It was a solid day Saturday for a pair of local teams at the State American Legion tournament at Kirby Smith Field in Barrington.
Elgin rallied for a 9-6 win over Rock Island and Barrington cruised past Steeleville 8-2, while Danville knocked off Wheaton 12-2.
Elgin Post 57, which won the state title in 2015, found itself down 5-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth. Elgin (33-5-1) then plated 8 runs in then fifth and held off Rock Island (21-10-1) to advance to the 1 p.m. game with Danville.
South Elgin grad Ryan Dominick led the way with 3 hits, including a pair of doubles, and had 3 RBIs and 2 runs scored. Dayne Frederick also had 3 hits, including a double and an RBI. Cy Kerber, Nick Poblocki and Drew Johnson each had 2 hits for Elgin.
"We just had to attack the fastball," said Dominick, who plays at Wisconsin Lutheran. "I was able to make pretty good contact. We trust our pitching. Once we got the bats going we feel no one can stop us."
Barrington 8, Steeleville 2:
Barrington Post 158 (32-10-2) got a pair of doubles and 3 RBIs from Rayth Petersen, plus a solid pitching performance from RJ Nowicki, to advance to today's 4 p.m. game with Wheaton in the double elimination tournament.
AJ Christoffer had 2 hits and 2 runs scored, while John Seagrist and Johnny Gardner each had doubles and an RBI. Johnny Podlesnik and Nick Loutos each had an RBI.
Nowicki, who was just making his second start of the season, found his groove after the second inning and was able to force Steeleville Post 480 (15-6) to hit into 3 double plays.
"We had some big hits up and down the order, " Barrington coach Nate Gray said. "All of hits were big. And when RJ was able to settle down, we were in a great spot."
Danville 12, Wheaton 2 (5 inn):
Danville Post 210 had a batter reach to lead off in every inning and pounded out 15 hits to advance past Wheaton Post 76.
"We came out flat and couldn't recover," Wheaton coach Jerry Miller said. "And we just couldn't recover."
Danville (28-6), which had won its regional title Wednesday, used a pair of extra base hits to grab the early lead and kept the momentum going. Earnest Plummer scored twice, and his 3 hits included 2 doubles.
Wheaton (24-11) scored in the third and fifth. They kept it close at 3-1 when Danville pitcher Jacob Stipp, who had sailed along in the first two innings, walked Frank Severino and Patrick Dosen. After a balk, Ryan Russman's sacrifice fly scored Saverino. In the fifth, Jimmy Zay singled home Russman, who had doubled.
"We just made mistakes early and it hurt us," Russman said. "We rallied, but when you get guys we just couldn't get them in today."