Prospect 5, Hersey 2
It took merely one swing of the bat Friday afternoon to light a fire under two of Prospect's senior standouts.
After watching Dominic Pugliese give up a first inning 2-run homer to Hersey junior Chris James, Pugliese and senior third baseman Tim Scanlan did anything but panic.
"We've come back (in a lot of our games) this season," Scanlan said. "We knew we had a lot of time left in the game, so we just had to wait for our opportunity."
The Eastern Kentucky-bound senior, who doubled in his first plate appearance, wasted little time waiting for that opportunity to present itself.
Scanlan belted a 2-run blast of his own in the top of the third, his fourth of the season, to give the Knights a 3-2 lead.
Despite tumultuous weather that ultimately ended play in the top of the sixth inning, visiting Prospect (4-5, 2-0) still recorded a hard-earned 5-2 Mid-Suburban East baseball victory in Arlington Heights.
After struggling in the first inning, by allowing a leadoff walk as well as the 2-run homer to James, Pugliese settled down and began doing what he does best: retiring batters.
In fact, when play was suspended five innings later, the first-inning long ball remained the only hit the senior pitcher had allowed. Pugliese allowed 2 runs on 1 hit with 6 strikeouts.
"I started to get my fastball down, and was really mixing it up a lot," Pugliese said. "I was definitely able to keep them off balance."
"(Dominic) had a rough first inning," Knights coach Ross Giusti said. "He really bounced back, started making (Hersey) hit the ball, and allowed our defense to make plays. When we do that, we can be pretty tough."
Trailing 2-0 after one, Prospect began to slowly chip away at Hersey (5-4, 0-2) senior pitcher Dan Kelley, who allowed 5 runs on 7 hits.
An RBI single by outfielder Kevin Krohm got the Knights on the board as senior Andrew Cardona crossed the plate.
And after Scanlan's third inning heroics, Prospect would not let up.
In the fifth, sophomore John Coen walked to lead off the inning. Then a perfectly placed bunt allowed senior Jason Leblebijian to reach base.
After consecutive strikeouts, Coen scored on a passed ball, and senior Griffin Rebecca followed with a clutch RBI single, driving home Leblebijian to give the Knights a 5-2 advantage.
"We were being really patient at the plate," Scanlan noted. "We got a lot of timely hits today, getting the job done when we needed to."
For Hersey, the missed opportunities were aplenty Friday.
"We're playing badly right now," said Hersey coach Bob Huber. "Maybe we'll start playing better soon."
Maine West 7, Waukegan 6: The host Warriors scored 3 runs in both the bottom of the sixth and seventh innings to catch and pass Waukegan in a suspended Central Suburban League crossover.
Paul Solka delivered a two-out RBI single to win it in the seventh.
Sean Willett went 3-for-4 and Kane Hernandez was 2-for-2 with 2 runs for Maine West (4-0). Mike Santa Maria got the victory in relief.
Schaumburg 15, Barrington 5 (5 inn.):ŒSteve Mahler homered and doubled and visiting Schaumburg (4-1, 1-0) erupted for 9 runs in the fifth inning to pull away from the Broncos in the MSL West.
Schaumburg was leading 6-2 after 4 innings before blowing things open in the fifth as lefty Andy Brandt improved to 2-0.
Mahler finished 3-for-4 with 2 RBI, Dominic D'Agata with 2-for-3 with 3 RBI and 3 runs and Dave Compitello was 3-for-4 with 2 runs.
Russ Zeisloft homered as Barrington (4-6, 0-2) lost its sixth straight.
Postponements: Hoffman Estates at Fremd and Conant at Palatine in the MSL West and Wheeling at Buffalo Grove and Rolling Meadows at Elk Grove in the MSL East were postponed because of unplayable field conditions.