Cook and Lake County baseball roundup: Mundelein, Prospect’s offenses come alive in regional championship wins
Mundelein hit Palatine with an 8-ball Saturday in the first inning of the Class 4A Palatine regional baseball championship game.
The Mustangs then relied on solid pitching from Joey Kafka, Brody Paluch and Caden Earing to win their third regional in the past 5 years with an 8-4 win.
Brandon Marano had two hits and three RBI for Mundelein (23-10-2). Nick Szalony had two hits and an RBI, Johnny Weiss had a hit and two RBI and two runs scored, Dan Stricklin two hits and Tony Morano had a hit and RBI.
Palatine (26-10), which broke the school record for wins in a season, got two hits and an RBI from Toby Peterson and Peter Mulhern.
At Prospect: Ross Giusti put off his retirement plans on hold for now. Giusti, who is retiring after the conclusion of this season, watched as his Prospect team rambled past Hersey 15-4 in six innings. The Knights will meet Libertyville in the Stevenson sectional Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.
Prospect (24-11-1), which had split with Hersey during the regular season, broke the game open with 9 runs in the final two innings. Matt Fouch had three hits and RBI while John Aquino had a double, triple, three RBI and two runs. Louie Caldrone and Matt Jackson each had a hit and two RBI. Evan Mantas pitched 5 2/3 innings in relief and allowed just one run while striking out five.
Hersey (27-9-1) got two hits and an RBI from Chuck Meister, a hit and two RBI from Mike Sokan, and a hit and RBI from Diego Garcia while Brady Klehr reached base four times on three walks and a hit and also scored a run.
At Hoffman Estates: Libertyville (31-4) jumped to a 5-0 lead to beat Highland Park 5-2 for the Wildcats’ third regional title in a row. Cole Lockwood went the distance for Libertyville, fanning 10 while allowing three hits and two runs, which were both unearned.
Libertyville, which banged out nine hits, was led by Josh Holst with three hits, two RBI and two runs. Carson Holmes had two hits, two RBI and a run scored while Jack Cenra had two hits.
At Grant: Barrington needed a seventh inning rally to win its fourth consecutive regional title by beating Dundee-Crown 3-2. Barrington (24-11-1) will meet Hampshire in the McHenry sectional at 2 p.m. Wednesday.
With the game scoreless after six innings, Dundee-Crown (14-21) pushed across a pair of unearned runs to lead 2-0.
Zack Ostergaaurd led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk. After two Broncos were out, Caid Heick was hit by a pitch. Jackson Roberts followed with a triple to tie the game and then came home on a single by Joey Tomczak.
At Maine South: The Hawks won their first regional title since 2015 by knocking off CSL rival Evanston 6-3. It is the fourth time that Maine South (21-16) has beaten the Wildkits (16-18) this season. Maine South advances to the Loyola sectional where they will play Lane at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
Maine South used a 4-run second to pull away for the win. Nate Cera had two hits and an RBI for the Hawks while Eric Fugate had a double and RBI. Constantine Coines, Joe Mule, Evan Adamczewski and Alex Vale each had a hit and a run scored. Jack Gianikos pitched five innings and struck out seven to pick up the win.
At Deerfield: In class 3A, seventh-seeded St. Viator stunned second-seed Grayslake Central 7-4. It is the first regional title for the Lions (20-17) since 2022. St. Viator will meet Crystal Lake South in Wednesday’s Grayslake Central sectional at 4:30 p.m.
Jacob Oberwise had two hits, including a double and drove in four runs for the Lions. Brandon Thomsen and Jonathan Tschanz each had two hits, including a double and RBI while Alec Harer had two hits for Viator, which banged out 12 hits in the game. Hunter Mills went all seven innings and allowed just one earned run while striking out five.
Grayslake Central (26-10) was led by Ian McGowan and Charlie Surowiec who each had two hits and an RBI.
At Antioch: The host Sequoits (23-12-1) allowed 14 hits to Cary-Grove and fell 13-3. Antioch was trailing 2-1 in the fourth when the Trojans struck for five runs and pulled away. Jackson Mozina drove in a pair of runs for Antioch and reached on a hit and a hit batter. Mason Willis and Nathan Yeager each had two hits for the Sequoits.